In the opening phase,
Pogba went into a few duels with Shane Carter and, on the surface, did not really come out badly.
That boosted his confidence.
But as the match went on,
Atlético Madrid, under Shane's direction,
gradually took control of the game.
Juventus, playing at home, quickly felt the pressure Shane was applying in midfield.
He controlled the tempo.
His sudden changes of pace often disrupted Juventus' defensive setup.
And he had too many ways to change the rhythm:
sometimes a sudden through ball,
sometimes a sharp burst forward and a dribble past his marker.
That made Juventus very hard to handle.
In the 7th minute,
Pirlo picked up a yellow card while defending Shane.
As one of the three holding midfielders,
Pirlo being booked so early
made a number of Juventus fans feel a little uneasy.
As it turned out,
that sixth sense was pretty accurate.
When the fans in the stand saw Pirlo booked, they frowned, worried that Juventus' defensive line might start to crack.
And then, just two minutes later,
the problem really did arrive.
Shane received the ball in the attacking half.
On the surface,
Juventus looked completely solid.
Three holding midfielders, five defenders, all in place.
It seemed like there was no opening at all.
But then,
Shane decided to dribble himself.
He beat Pogba first.
Then, as Marchisio moved over to clean up for Pogba,
the moment Marchisio vacated his zone—
and before the back line had time to fill the space—
Shane used the outside of his foot to slip the ball through.
To everyone else,
it looked almost as if Marchisio had left his zone on purpose, opening a lane for Shane's through ball.
The ball moved like a surgeon's knife sliding through butter.
It traveled smoothly behind the defensive line.
Griezmann, who had been lurking behind Barzagli, exploded into motion the moment Shane released the pass.
His acceleration was so fast that Barzagli could not react in time.
By the time Barzagli turned his head,
Griezmann was already shaping to shoot.
He met the ball with his body slightly open and struck through it with the inside of his right foot, driving it hard!
The ball rose slightly, then dropped quickly, bouncing up again in front of Buffon.
Even Buffon,
there was nothing he could do about a ball like that.
The ball slammed into the net behind him with a sharp whoosh.
"Beautiful! Shane's assist! Griezmann scores, and Atlético Madrid lead Juventus 1-0 away from home!"
"Atlético Madrid have earned a precious away goal!"
Griezmann's goal left the Juventus players a little stunned.
They had not expected Atlético Madrid to break through so quickly.
Conte on the touchline was also frowning deeply.
Fortunately, Juventus had plenty of dressing-room leaders who could stabilize the situation.
He kept pressing both hands downward on the sideline, telling his players not to panic.
....
Juventus were nicknamed the Old Lady.
One of their main traits was stability.
Even when they fell behind by a goal, their emotions did not swing wildly.
Pirlo kept controlling the tempo of the match.
Meanwhile, Atlético Madrid's players were still basking in the joy of scoring.
They had just knocked out AC Milan in emphatic fashion, and now they were facing Juventus and had scored early again, this time away from home.
So they inevitably began to look down a little on these Italian teams.
But the Serie A giants soon reminded Atlético Madrid with a goal of their own
that Juventus were not some side to be casually brushed aside on the way to the semifinals.
In the 23rd minute,
Quagliarella received a long ball from Pirlo that had been launched suddenly from deep midfield.
He timed his run perfectly, beat the offside trap, and went one-on-one before calmly finishing past Courtois.
Juventus had equalized.
That goal poured cold water on the Atlético fans who had been hoping their team could settle the tie away from home.
Juventus were not some soft target you could squeeze at will.
Now the score was 1-1.
That left Atlético with a more delicate choice.
Should they keep attacking and try to score a second away goal to retake the lead?
Or should they hold this scoreline, because one away goal still gave them a decent position?
What should they do?
A lot of eyes turned toward Shane Carter.
After all,
he was the one commanding the team on the pitch.
....
Once the game restarted,
Shane noticed that the Juventus players were extremely fired up.
At that point, trying to pass forward immediately was not a very good choice.
If he forced the ball through their shape right then, the opponent might well spring another fast attack like the one that had just led to the equalizer.
So for a while,
Shane stayed deep in the back line.
He pressed both hands downward, telling his teammates not to rush.
He kept using sideways passes and short circulation to slow the pace down.
That control was meant to draw Juventus' shape higher up the pitch,
while also allowing his teammates to advance and create enough space.
Only when there were enough support options ahead of him
would Shane think about sending the next shell forward.
This did reduce the number of attacking moves,
but it also reduced Juventus' chances to attack.
In effect, it slowly drained away the momentum Juventus had built after scoring.
Conte stood on the sideline, staring at Shane the whole time.
At the end, he could not help but sigh:
"If you peel this kid's head open, I swear there's an old fox living in there..."
He muttered to his assistant.
Originally, he had thought Atlético's midfield core being so young was Juventus' chance.
Especially after Juventus scored,
he had expected Atlético to be provoked into pushing up and attacking wildly.
That would have given Juventus more room.
Juventus were full of momentum.
If the tempo got dragged up and the number of attacking sequences increased,
their chance of scoring would naturally be higher than Atlético's.
But instead,
the opponent refused to give him that opening.
And all of it was because of that midfield core.
Conte looked back out at the pitch.
He knew that when Shane was circulating the ball like this, it was not because he lacked ambition.
It was because he was waiting for the best possible moment.
For now, all Juventus could do was stay patient.
And keep playing along.
This was a two-legged tie.
One hundred and eighty minutes.
There was no need to rush.
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