Football
ESPN staff 7y

Juventus 'invoke fear in others' after Barcelona win - Leonardo Bonucci

Defender Leonardo Bonucci insists that every club must fear Juventus now after they knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League.

After winning 3-0 in the first leg in Turin, Juventus ensured that Barcelona failed to score at the Camp Nou in the Champions League for the first time since May 2013. And extended their clean sheet run to almost nine hours -- or 531 minutes -- in the competition.

"We knew they were coming to push us high, running a few risks at the back, but we did well to be united and compact when defending, above all thanks to Dani Alves and [Mario] Mandzukic for pressuring their full-backs," Bonucci told Mediaset Premium.

"It was a performance of great unity and solidity. We have belief in ourselves, because scoring three goals past Barcelona and then keeping a clean sheet at Camp Nou proves we are a great team. Now there are another two steps to go.

"We should've done better when playing out of defence and going on the counter. Nonetheless, we still created several chances and it was hard to approach it any other way in the circumstances. We just failed to convert our opportunities.

"This Juventus deserves applause for how it approaches every game, whether it's Barcelona or Pescara. It's another step in our growth process, now every opponent must worry about Juventus."

Juventus are through to the Champions League semifinals alongside Real Madrid, Monaco and Atletico Madrid, but Bonucci insists that all their opponents will fear the Italian side.

"I think it's not who we don't want to face, but the fact all three of the other teams don't want to face us," he added. "Juventus invoke fear now in others and we've proved ourselves, so our objective is to play the final in Cardiff."

Looking ahead to the semis, Juventus star forward Paulo Dybala admitted there were no favourites now that Barcelona are out of the picture.

"When we watched the draw for the quarterfinals together, we all agreed that we wanted every team but not Barcelona," Dybala said. "Now I don't see any big favourite, I think all the four teams have the same chance of going all the way. Let's see who we get."

The Old Lady have only conceded just twice in 10 Champions League matches this campaign. And for Dybala, keeping Barca out for over 180 minutes proved a difficult feat to accomplish.

"Not conceding against a team like Barcelona is not easy," he said. "We are very happy with this achievement against such a great side. Considering all the games leading up to this, including PSG, we knew that we had to be solid."

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