Miralem Pjanic admits Atletico Madrid have a “similar philosophy” to Juventus, so the Bianconeri need to improve in the Champions League.
The first leg of the Round of 16 is at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Wednesday evening.
“Their philosophy is not easy to deal with at all, so it’s up to us to control both games and most importantly try to score a goal in Madrid,” the midfielder told newspaper Il Giornale.
Miralem Pjanic admits Atletico Madrid have a “similar philosophy” to Juventus, so the Bianconeri need to improve in the Champions League.
The first leg of the Round of 16 is at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Wednesday evening.
“Their philosophy is not easy to deal with at all, so it’s up to us to control both games and most importantly try to score a goal in Madrid,” the midfielder told newspaper Il Giornale.
“Atleti do have a lot of similarities with Juve, as both teams are solid, allow few spaces and don’t concede many goals. They are very aggressive when marking or pressing opposition players, whereas we have stronger individual talents. That is where we must make the difference over the two legs.”
The Champions League Final this season will be played at the Wanda Metropolitano.
“They’ll be even more motivated because they want to play the Final on home turf, having played two in the last five years. They’ve got the same record reaching the Final in that period as Juve.”
The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo and their 13-point lead at the top of the Serie A table has made Juventus among the favourites to finally win the Champions League, which would be their first since 1996.
“We feel strong, even if we’ve been knocked out of the Coppa Italia by Atalanta. Other than that, we’ve only had great results this season. There have been some more complicated matches lately, so we need to improve in two or three areas when facing these knockout ties.
“We’ve conceded too many goals recently and it is not like us. The team must defend as a unit and when I say all together, I really mean it. Even the strikers must participate in helping the defence.
“This is an important year and we’ve got to focus.”
Yet Juventus have already lost two out of six Champions League group games, at home to Manchester United and away at Young Boys.
“We should’ve won 4-0 against Manchester United that night. We’ve proved many times that we are strong, but people always want to create a sense of alarm around us. We’re not worried.”