Leonardo Bonucci believes Juventus “have a good chance of winning the Champions League and the Treble. Now it’s all about the mentality.”
The Bianconeri kept a clean sheet over two legs against Barcelona, going through to the semi-finals with a 3-0 aggregate result after last night’s 0-0 Camp Nou draw.
That game ended the Blaugrana’s 15-match Champions League home winning streak, stretching back to May 2013.
Leonardo Bonucci believes Juventus “have a good chance of winning the Champions League and the Treble. Now it’s all about the mentality.”
The Bianconeri kept a clean sheet over two legs against Barcelona, going through to the semi-finals with a 3-0 aggregate result after last night’s 0-0 Camp Nou draw.
That game ended the Blaugrana’s 15-match Champions League home winning streak, stretching back to May 2013.
“Achieving something like that over 180 minutes against Barcelona, without ever really being under a lot of pressure from one of the two-three best teams in the world, that means Juve can now target the Champions League,” Bonucci told Sky Sport Italia.
“This is a special moment and you are at the limit. All you need is to get the approach to one game wrong and you have compromised everything that was done before.”
Tomorrow there is the draw for the semi-final with Real Madrid, Monaco and Atletico Madrid.
“There are four sides left in the Champions League, who have proved on the pitch they are the best in Europe. Now it’s up to us to prove we are hungry enough to go all the way.”
A 3-0 home victory over Barcelona was decisive, but the clean sheet at Camp Nou was something few genuinely expected.
“I think it was achieved over the 180 minutes. We played fantastic attacking football in the first 45 minutes and that made the difference. Then we arrived in Barcelona fully aware that we could allow them little or nothing, creating our own chances on the counter.”
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“We have a very good chance of reaching the Final in Cardiff and raising this trophy to the sky,” replied the defender.
“Now it’s all about the mentality, as we must keep our feet on the ground without letting ourselves get swept up by excessive enthusiasm.”
Juve are also eight points clear at the top of the Serie A table and will face Lazio in the Coppa Italia Final, so they could replicate Inter’s Treble in 2010.
“We are in the running on all three fronts and they are within reach, so now it’s all in the mind. We must maintain our concentration for a month and a half to go all the way.
“Over the years this squad has proved it is compact and knows what it takes to achieve victory.”
Bonucci formed a rock-solid partnership with Giorgio Chiellini for both Juventus and Italy.
“It was funny this morning when I saw the video of Chiellini giving me a slap, as some read it to be him telling me off, but that was not the case.
“Throughout the game, we gave each other pats on the back, hugs, slaps to keep the tension up for the entire 95 minutes. In that case he simply gave me a friendly ‘whack’ to fire me up, because we had earned a free kick at the 90th minute and we both live on adrenaline.”