RESPECT FOR MONACO
“Monaco are a tough side to beat. Knowing how dangerous they can be, we certainly won’t be underestimating them. I haven’t seen many of their games season but, knowing a bit about the squad and seeing them up close against us two years ago when they had the same coach, I can say they play some lovely football.
“They have pace in abundance up front and are a very slick attacking outfit. This is a team that will enter the tie with nothing to lose and the pressure will be squarely on our shoulders to go through. If they have a weakness, it could be their lack of experience, being such a young group. You could say they concede a lot of goals but score even more."
2015 JUVE VS. 2017 JUVE
“People are making favourable comparisons between this Juventus and the one that got to the final but the only way we can prove that is by winning the trophy. I don’t know if this current vintage is better; in midfield then we had Pirlo, Vidal, Pogba and Marchisio, we had great strikers and our defence is more or less the same now.
“What you can say for certain is that this is a different team that has the experience of Berlin, losing to Bayern in unfortunate circumstances last season and beating Barcelona this time behind it; we’ve grown mentally and now we have the belief to go and win the whole thing."
BEATING BARÇA MUST BE THE NORM
“Our celebrations were discreet at the Camp Nou and that is exactly how it should be: yes, we’re in the semi-final but we haven’t won anything yet. We’re in a great position but everything is still up for grabs.
“We’ve played a variety of different systems in the past few years but looking at the performances we are producing at the moment, you would have to say that the 4-2-3-1 is perfect for the players we have at our disposal."
NEW FOCUS FOR GENOA
“We struggled at Genoa earlier in the campaign; I don’t remember games in which we lost particularly well. Conceding three goals in the first 25 minutes had never happened before, at least not in my six years at the club. We’re in a different phase of the season now and we can’t afford to drop any points."