After a 2-1 defeat against Lazio over the weekend, Juventus route into the UEFA Champions League (UCL) via Serie A now looks to be blocked off. They do have an alternate path into next season’s UCL, but that would require them to win the Europa League (UEL), a trophy they last lifted back in 1992/93 under the UEFA Cup name when they interestingly beat Portuguese opposition in the quarter-finals.
That’s perhaps an omen they can take confidence from ahead of the visit of Sporting Lisbon, but the biggest confidence booster of all for Juventus is surely the fact that they have never lost a home match in the UEL (W6, D7). They’ll undoubtedly be confident of extending that run here and should be buoyed by the fact they’ve won their last three European outings without conceding a goal!
With no more than an outside chance of securing a Primeira Liga UCL spot despite a thrilling 4-3 win against Casa Pia at the weekend, this competition also represents Sporting best chance of dining out with Europe’s elite next season. Sporting booked their spot in the quarter-finals in impressive fashion, knocking out one of the UEL’s biggest hitters as they dispatched Arsenal on penalties in the last-16.
This promises to be another stern test though and Sporting travel to Turin carrying the burden of failing to win any of their 15 European away games against Italian opposition (D4, L11). However, a run of just one defeat in their last six European games on their travels (W2, D3) should boost belief that the Portuguese side can pull off an Italian job on one of the continent’s biggest clubs.
Players to watch: Juventus Ángel Di María has made the UEL knockout stages his own, with four goals already, the last two of which have interestingly been headers. A happy traveller, Pedro Gonçalves scored in the away leg of both Sporting play-off and last-16 successes.
Hot stat: Sporting have won just two of their last 16 UEL knockout games (D6, L8).
