"When you have ten euros in your pocket you can’t eat in a restaurant where the meal will cost 100 euro” is without a doubt one of Antonio Conte’s most famous (some would say infamous) quotes. While burnout has also been mentioned as one of the reasons why he abruptly left Juventus back in July of 2014, it’s pretty clear that his belief he couldn’t take Juventus any further was the main reason he decided to leave the club he had re energised.

The main reason that phrase has become iconic is because the following season his successor, Max Allegri, had Juventus tied with Barcelona in the second half of the Champions League final in Berlin. But this was just the latest twist in Juventus’ complicated relationship with the Champions League when you consider that no club has lost more finals than the bianconeri, and even the two times they did win have been marked with controversy- Platini celebrating scoring the game winning penalty after 39 Juventus fans were killed in the stands at the Heysel stadium, as well as the doping allegations against Lippi’s team that defeated Ajax in the final.
 

But Juventus has certainly shown a commitment to changing how they’re perceived in Europe. Max Allegri smartly kept talking publicly about being a contender in the Champions League from the first day he arrived in Turin, he knew that would be the best way to create his own legacy and move out of Antonio Conte’s shadows- and of course it helped that he backed those words up with a run to the final.
 

While during the beginning of the Conte regime, Juventus often targeted Serie A players, in recent years there has been a shift towards going after targets with Champions League pedigree or who had attributes better suited for the style of play that works in European competition. Juventus brought in Cuadrado, Alex Sandro and Pjaca to vastly improve on the wings while also signing Evra and Khedira to ensure they had more players used to performing in big games.


 

This season Juventus has shown some good improvements in Europe since they have won away matches against Sevilla, Lyon and Porto and are now almost guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals. But is this team better than the one that lost to Barcelona in the final two years ago? And more importantly, does being better or worse ultimately matter when it comes to winning the cup with the Mickey Mouse ears?
 

The conventional wisdom is that two seasons ago Juventus had a considerably better midfield while the current team is better in almost every other area- there’s certainly a lot to that but that maybe a bit too simplistic so let’s break it down:
 

Defence - while Buffon is now two years older there really hasn’t been any drop off in his performances. Barzagli is still one of the best central defenders in Europe, but he’s more injury prone and can’t play as many matches regularly. Chiellini continues to be a great man marker but, just like Barzagli, continues to miss matches because of injuries. Bonucci’s performances and appeal on the transfer market have ensured he has received not one, but two raises since that match versus Barcelona. Juventus’ depth is better now when you consider that since Allegri changed formations they have Benatia, Rugani and one out of the BBC on the bench, while two years ago they had to make due with Ogbonna and Caceres.


 

Wingers - this is the area where Juventus has made the biggest leap, and shouldn’t be underestimated since many of the recent Champions League winners were very strong on the wings. Alex Sandro is the best wing back Juve has had since Zambrotta left, Cuadrado has been decisive in numerous big games and his dribbling ability has been a game changer for Allegri. Lichtsteiner has played much better recently after a difficult stretch and at least at the moment has regained his starting job back over Dani Alves, who although disappointing so far with the bianconeri, is better than Romulo who was “un oggetto misterioso” in Turin two years ago.



Marko Pjaca waited for a big moment in Oporto to score his first goal for Juventus, and is giving Juve at least as much as Coman gave them back in 2014/15. When healthy Asamoah is at least as good as the version of Evra we saw in the former Manchester United’s captain first season in Turin.
 

Midfielders - on paper you’d be hard pressed to find many better trios than Vidal, Pirlo and Pogba. Two years ago there was talk that Juventus had the best midfield in all of Europe but the current team isn’t that far off in my opinion. Back in June of 2015, Pirlo and Vidal were finishing their worst seasons at Juventus and while the former Milan regista did have some big moments in that Champions League run, he had also become a liability if opponents were willing to man mark him or press him frequently.
 

While Vidal showed his King Arturo form in the semi-finals against Real Madrid, back then there was also talk that Juventus should have cashed in on him the previous summer when Manchester United made a big offer. When Vidal was sold to Bayern Munich, many (including myself) pointed to the fact he hadn’t been the same player since the knee injury and Juventus was right to sell him since he was getting closer to 30- safe to say that since then Vidal has made people like me look bad with that assessment, but doesn’t change fact that 2 years ago he wasn’t same player as when Juventus signed him.
 

Because of the new formation, Allegri is mainly using Khedira and Pjanic who, after a slow start, has shown that he could follow in the footsteps of other midfielders who just needed a bit of time to adapt to playing at Juventus. When you also consider that the wing backs and Cuadrado essentially became midfielders when Juventus has possession, I find the gap between the two teams to not be that significant.

Attackers - the consensus is that Juventus has a much better attack now than two years ago, but just like the midfield I find this a bit overblown. There probably was no single player more responsible for Juventus' Champions League run two years ago than Alvaro Morata, and while Carlos Tevez created a distraction in the final in Berlin when it was leaked it would almost certainly be his last game at Juventus, he was a very worthy successor to Del Piero with Juve’s number ten jersey.
 

After struggling with injuries and finding chemistry with Higuain, Paulo Dybala has once again lived up to his ‘La Joya” nickname probably in part because he’s now once again playing with Mandzukic- a key player on Bayern’s treble winning team, the Croatian striker’s work rate and grinta allow Allegri to use so many forwards at the same time.
 

 Higuain has been sensational in Serie A in past 3 months, but Juventus' enormous investment to acquire him will only be considered a success if he leads them to a Champions League win. The Argentine striker could have an ultimate moment of redemption in Cardiff considering their (deserved) reputation for struggling on the big stage.

Of course all these ratings are subjective, and I don’t fault anyone who thinks the team two years ago was better- but the better question is does that ultimately matter when it comes to winning the Champions League this year? As the bianconeri’s executive director Beppe Marotta often says “the Champions League is like a crap shoot often decided by episodes and the results of the draw” and there is certainly a lot of truth to that.
 

So far things seem to be going Juve's way. There is really no dominating club in Europe this season, but rather a collection of teams that are either slightly better than the Old Lady and others flawed enough that the bianconeri can defeat them over two matches like they did two years ago in the semifinal against Real Madrid. Juventus caught a break in the draw in round of 16, and with a few more they may end up finally being able to pay the bill in the expensive restaurant Conte wanted them to take him to.
 

 

 David Amoyal is the manager of the English page on Gianluca Di Marzio's website where he also writes weekly articles. David covers transfer news for ESPN, and has appeared on numerous radio shows on Sirius XM in the US as well as TalkSport in the UK. David is the former editor in chief of Vavel USA and his articles have been featured in many sites around the world. You can follow him on Twitter @DavidAmoyal