Juventus must be more offensive in the Champions League

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Juventus drew a blank against a resolute Sevilla side in Turin on Wednesday.

Juventus were held to a 0-0 draw by a resolute Sevilla side in Turin on Wednesday, and must be bolder in attack to be successful in the Champions League.

On the face of it, a point against arguably the strongest team in Juve’s group bar themselves is not an awful result. However, such is the level of dominance they have shown in Serie A that, despite the number of chances they created, the display felt like one of conservatism and restraint.

Until the goalless draw against Sevilla, the Old Lady had swept aside all in her path, producing a perfect start to what looked to be a tricky opening to their league campaign.

Fiorentina, Lazio and Sassuolo rank among the division’s better sides, and all were beaten by the reigning champions. The victory over Sassuolo was particularly impressive, not least because of new signing Miralem Pjanic’s impressive debut.

The ex-Roma playmaker scored a debut goal as he helped his new side to a 3-1 victory, reacting quickest after his header came back off the bar to smash home the rebound.

But bizarrely, both he and Alex Sandro were dropped in favour of Kwadwo Asamoah and Patrice Evra, respectively, for the clash with Sevilla.

Alex Sandro is far more threatening in an attacking sense than Evra, and has been impressive on the left, starting all of Juventus’ previous three games.

Asamoah’s benching in the league came as something of a surprise in itself, losing his place to Mario Lemina, who was signed on a permanent basis from Olympique Marseille this summer. However, the trio of Lemina, Pjanic and Sami Khedira showed promise, and appears as though it should be Massimiliano Allegri’s go-to midfield until Claudio Marchisio returns from injury.

The choice to remove two impressive attacking players in favour of two who offer more defensively was an unnecessarily negative move by Allegri, and it cost them two points.

Without the spark and drive of Paul Pogba in midfield, Allegri must hand players like Pjanic the responsibility of helping to fill that void.

It is without doubt that Juventus are a monstrous and dominant force in Italy. But they must harness that confidence and aggression and display it in Europe if they are to have any chance of rewarding club legends like Gianluigi Buffon with a Champions League winners medal.