With second place in Group D at stake, Juventus and Sporting will face each other on Wednesday, October 18, for the third round of the UEFA Champions League key phase, the last of the first round. At Allianz Stadium in Turin, the game is scheduled to start at 16:45 (GMT).
At the top of the group are Barcelona, who added the six possible points in the opening matches and will face, at the same time, the Olympiacos flashlight, which has not yet scored in Catalunya. Juve and Spoting are tied for second place with three points earned.
The recent performance of Juventus
Runner-up of the previous season of the Champions League of Europe and winner of the six most recent editions of the Italian Championship, Juve has promoted a process of reformulation of its cast and has been showing great swings at the beginning of the season.
Even Allianz Stadium, where the club was considered almost unbeatable, was the scene of this unconvincing start to Juve. On Saturday, October 14, against Lazio, the team was defeated, upset, by 2 to 1.
With 19 points (six wins, a draw and a loss), the Turin team fell to third place in the Italian Championship 2017/2018 version and saw Napoli, leader, extend their lead to five points. This is not, of course, an irreversible situation.
Coach Massimiliano Allegri is expected to have two defensive losses for Wednesday’s game. They are in the medical department in treatment of injuries and should not be released Mattia de Scligio and Benedikt Howedes.
The current form of Sporting
Sporting shows a bias of growth compared to the previous season. In the 2017/2018 Portuguese Championship, he is the vice-leader. He added 20 points (six wins and two draws). They are only two less than Porto, first placed.
To face Juve, the Portuguese club had more time to prepare. He played on Thursday, October 12, for the Portuguese Cup. He did not find it very difficult to advance to the second stage by beating Oleiros 4-2 away from the home. At no time did the Lisbon team take any chances. Made 3 to 0, took a goal, responded in the sequence and suffered the second time already in the discounts when his players were more relaxed and were sure of the victory.
The only defeat of the Portuguese team in official matches of the season happened against Barcelona. For the second round of the group stage of the Champions League, took 1 to 0 in Lisbon. But even failure had its positive side. Although it had a disadvantage in possession of the ball (37% to 63%), the Portuguese achieved a balance in the number of attempts to finish (10 to 11). But they sinned in quality. They placed only two shots on target against five of the Spaniards.
History of the matches Juventus vs Sporting
The only confrontation between them happened during a friendly tournament in 2011. The Portuguese won by 2 to 1.
PREDICTION: Juventus @ 1.36
