Wednesday Hoddle of Coffee: Soccer News and Notes, May 3, 2017

I still remember watching the Champions League draw last fall and feeling a sense of relief when we drew CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, and Monaco. We figured CSKA and Monaco would be annoying but beatable and the big question was whether we could top Roger Schmidt’s men to secure first place in the group.

That... well, it turned out to be wrong.

We were crap. CSKA was also crap. Leverkusen were mostly crap but outplayed us when we clashed though they were awful in Germany and eventually fired manager Roger Schmidt.

Monaco, meanwhile, was magical. With an attack featuring a quirky style, ridiculously lucky finishing, and a fun mix of established stars and up-and-coming youngsters the principality side has taken Ligue 1 by storm, looks set to crack the 100 goal barrier in domestic play, and is now on the brink of the Champions League final where they will likely meet Real Madrid.

Juventus stand in their way.

So here’s my question: Can Juve’s widely regarded defense control the Monaco attack? I imagine Juve will not commit as many players forward, which will make it harder for Monaco to hit them on the counter. The sheer quality of Juve’s center backs will also help them as they attempt to mark Kylian Mbappe, Radamel Falcao, and the other Monaco attackers. So what do you expect to see? My head is telling me Juve, but my heart says Monaco’s attack continues to be stupid fun and we continue to feel surprisingly OK about crashing out at their expense. What do you all think?