Uefa Champions League Quarter-finals: Juventus are probably not the best side left in the Champions League, but they may be the one Arsenal least wanted to face in the quarter-finals. As soon as the tie begins at Highbury on March 28th the success over Real Madrid will feel very distant.
The Serie A leaders have the sort of rigour and physicality that was so lacking in this week's visitors. There is no need for Arsenal to be engulfed by premonitions of doom, but a newish line-up will have to develop further if it is to cope.
Fabio Capello may well be gone from Turin this summer, perhaps favouring a second bout of management at the Bernabeu, but he is well on his way to ensuring that Juventus retain the Serie A title. Their lead stands at 10 points with 10 games left.
Capello's spending has not been quite as spectacular as it was in his Milan years, but his practicality is apparent. Patrick Vieira was bought from Arsenal to form a redoubtable partnership with Emerson in central midfield. That was seen as the deal that might make the club Champions League winners for the first time since 1996.
Arsenal were swift to accept a £13.7 million offer for a player who turns 30 this summer. There was a brusque logic to Arsene Wenger's attitude, but Juventus will be delighted with their end of the bargain if the trophy is hoisted in Paris on May 17th.
Having evaded Barcelona, Milan and free-spirited Lyon in the draw, Capello must also be content to meet the Highbury side. While Pavel Nedved is suspended from the first leg, the manager can trust that Juventus will be free of the flakiness that is endemic at Real. His team's spine will surely not crumble: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the David Trezeguet are complementary in attack, while, behind the Vieira-Emerson axis, Fabio Cannavaro and Lilian Thuram are paired to guard Gianluigi Buffon.
The atmosphere at Highbury might not be convivial, but there should be little hostility towards Vieira from Arsenal fans who recall his last kick for the club dispatched the decisive penalty in the shoot-out that decided the 2005 FA Cup final with Manchester United. Perhaps, too, the mellowness in their souls will be enhanced by the suspicion that the midfielder's powers are in decline. Those observers could argue that there is one resemblance between Juventus and Real. It is possible that the aura of fame surrounds a side that is not quite as good as its reputation.
They have been beaten once all season in Serie A, by Milan, but domestic football in Italy has lost some of its former allure. Liverpool took the goalless draw they needed at the Stadio delle Alpi in last season's Champions League quarter-final with a perplexing ease, having made Juventus appear vapid.
On Tuesday, Capello's team looked doomed to elimination until the Werder Bremen goalkeeper Tim Wiese unaccountably dropped the ball and Emerson turned round to roll in the winner after 88 minutes.
The uncertainty over Arsenal concerns the exact scope for improvement and the speed with which they can develop. It will be a challenge for Alexander Hleb and Jose Antonio Reyes to be as good against Juventus as they were when dealing with Real.
Liverpool's arrival tomorrow for a Premiership fixture could prove to be a foretaste of the type of encounter for which Arsenal must gird themselves in the Champions League. Wenger may also have to make his mind up about the composition of a line-up that presently reflects the club's injuries as much as the manager's wishes.
It would be a relief to have Ashley Cole back and morale should be bolstered if Sol Campbell's experience were available. Wenger, however, will have to be confident that the centre half does not return in the same tormented state that saw him walk out of the loss to West Ham at half-time. Arsenal cannot afford sentimentality, least of all against flinty Juventus.
Guardian Service
