Juventus and Sporting jockeying for position

A initial assembly between Juventus and Sporting Clube de Portugal gives both a event to step adult a follow to keep gait with Group D leaders FC Barcelona.

• The teams any have 3 points, carrying won one and mislaid a other of their initial dual fixtures, and route Barça by three. The omens are opposite Sporting, however, who have never won in Italy.

Match background

Juventus
• A 2-0 feat opposite Olympiacos FC final time out stretched a Bianconeri’s dominant home run in UEFA foe to 24 games (W15 D9), dating behind to a 2-0 retreat opposite FC Bayern München in Apr 2013.

• Juventus’s 12 encounters with Portuguese sides have finished W6 D2 L4; during home their record is W3 D1 L1. All 4 of those defeats came opposite SL Benfica.

• The Bianconeri’s solitary home detriment to a Portuguese Liga bar came in their initial encounter, Benfica triumphing 1-0 in Turin in a 1967/68 European Champion Clubs’ Cup semi-final second leg (3-0 aggregate).

• Juventus got a improved of Portuguese antithesis in final season’s turn of 16, violence FC Porto 3-0 over dual legs (2-0 away, 1-0 home).

• Juventus mislaid last season’s final 4-1 to Real Madrid CF in Cardiff. They were also beaten 3-0 by FC Barcelona on matchday one, a initial time given a 2014/15 organisation theatre they had mislaid unbroken European matches; by overcoming Olympiacos they avoided pang 3 defeats in a quarrel in Europe for a initial time given 1993/94.

• This is an 18th UEFA Champions League organisation theatre debate for Juve, and a sixth in succession.

• The Italian outfit have reached a knockout rounds in their final 3 attempts, carrying finished third in their territory in 2013/14.

Sporting
• Sporting have not played an Italian bar for 6 years given dual contests opposite SS Lazio in a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League organisation theatre (2-1 home, 0-2 away).

• That detriment in Rome means Sporting’s record divided to Italian clubs now reads W0 D3 L10. Overall it is W5 D10 L12.

• Beaten 1-0 during home by Barcelona in their many new fixture, Sporting were 3-2 winners during Olympiacos on matchday one, usually their third feat in their final 24 European divided fixtures (D5 L16). It was also their initial divided win in this foe correct given a 1-0 success during FC Basel 1893 on 9 Dec 2008; their successive record was D1 L6, with a five-game losing run before a Olympiacos delight including all 3 divided games in final season’s organisation stage.

• The Portuguese organisation were 5-1 total winners opposite Romania’s FCSB in a play-offs, following adult a 0-0 home draw with a 5-1 success in Bucharest. That win in Romania finished Sporting’s four-game losing strain in European divided matches.

• Sporting are in a organisation theatre for a third time in 4 years. In 2016/17, they came fourth in their organisation behind Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid CF and Legia Warszawa.

• Sporting competent by finishing third in a Portuguese Liga in 2016/17.

Coach and actor links
• Jorge Jesus guided Benfica to feat opposite Juve in a 2013/14 UEFA Europa League semi-finals (2-1 home, 0-0 away).

• Jesus’s usually other compare opposite Italian antithesis was a 1-0 divided improved by AC Milan in a 2008/09 UEFA Cup organisation theatre when he was coaching SC Braga.

• Jérémy Mathieu was in the Barcelona side beaten 3-0 during Juventus in final season’s quarter-final initial leg. He had come on as a surrogate in Barça’s 3-1 feat in a 2015 UEFA Champions League final.

• Alex Sandro played in Portugal for Porto between 2011 and 2015; his record opposite Sporting was W4 D3 L1.

• Rui Patrício and William Carvalho were in a Portugal organisation that dissapoint Blaise Matuidi’s France 1-0 in a UEFA EURO 2016 final.

• Rui Patrício and William Carvalho also got a improved of Marko Pjaca and Mario Mandžukić in Portugal’s 1-0 last-16 scalp of Croatia. Wojciech SzczÄ™sny was an new surrogate as Portugal edged out Poland on penalties in a quarter-finals.

• Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Claudio Marchisio all featured as Italy kick Sebastiano Coates’s Uruguay in a accessible on 7 June.

• Stephan Lichtsteiner was in a Switzerland side that kick Portugal 2-0 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier on 6 Sep 2016; Rui Patrício and Carvalho played for a visitors.

• Benedikt Höwedes scored in FC Schalke 04’s 4-3 home win opposite Sporting in a 2014/15 UEFA Champions League organisation stage, and also seemed in a 4-2 improved in Lisbon.

• Have played in Italy:
Cristiano Piccini (ACF Fiorentina 2010/11, Carrarese Calcio 2011/12, Spezia Calcio 2012/13, AS Livorno Calcio 2013/14)
Seydou Doumbia (AS Roma 2014/15)
Bruno Fernandes (Novara 2012/13, Udinese Calcio 2013–16, UC Sampdoria 2016/17)
Stefan Ristovski (Parma FC 2010–15, FC Crotone 2011/12, Frosinone Calcio 2012, AS Bari 2012/13, US Latina Calcio 2013/14, 2015)

• Have played together:
Miralem Pjanić Seydou Doumbia (Roma 2014/15)
Fábio Coentrão Sami Khedira (Real Madrid 2011–15) Gonzalo Higuaín (2011–13)
Jonathan Silva Rodrigo Bentancur (CA Boca Juniors 2016/17)
Douglas Costa Bruno César (Grêmio FBPA 2008)

• International team-mates:
Jérémy Mathieu Blaise Matuidi (France)
Paulo Dybala Gonzalo Higuaín, Marcos Acuña (Argentina)

Article source: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2018/matches/round=2000881/match=2021633/prematch/background/index.html?rss=2496800+Juventus+and+Sporting+jockeying+for+position