UEL 2022-23: Juventus vs Sporting CP: Predicted lineup, injury news, head-to-head, telecast

The Old Lady will host the Portuguese giants at the Allianz Arena, in the quarter-final 1st leg, on Thursday.

Juventus are entering the business end of the competitive European Football season, and that's when they've historically found plenty of success. In an ideal scenario, the Old Lady would like to be competing in the Champions League as opposed to the Europa League, albeit they've done progressively well, beating Nantes 4-1 & Freiburg 3-0, in the aggregate, in the Round of 32 & Round of 16 stages respectively, since dropping down from the UCL group stage.

With an eight-point gap already to the fourth spot in the Serie A, & returning to the Champions League as the primary objective, winning the Europa League will be the primary goal for Max Allegri's men.

Similar to their Italian counterparts, Sporting CP has also tried to make the most in the Champions League group but finished third behind Tottenham & Eintracht Frankfurt, and dropped down to the Europa League. They pulled off an upset victory over one of the Europa League favourites Arsenal, and won on penalties to reach the quarter-final stage.

They comfortably progressed past Midtjylland in the prior round with a 5-1 aggregate victory in the Round of 32. Hence, with their confidence high after their last-round win, they'll be hoping to pull off another upset against the Bianconeri and make it to the semi-final stage of this year's Europa League.

Kick-off: 

Thursday 13-04-2023 7:45 pm (GMT)

Friday, 14-02-2023, 1:15 am (IST)

Juventus form (all competitions): L-D-W-W-W

Sporting CP form (all competitions): W-D-W-W-W

Players to watch out

Juventus: Dusan Vlahovic

The Serbian forward has been the standout performer in an underwhelming season for his club side, having to lead the Serie A golden boot race for most of last season in the Serie A, with 24 goals, only pipped by Ciro Immobile of Lazio who finished with 27.

Although there has been an adjustment period for Vlahovic, with his club side in the transition, adding to it, he’s been able to find the net eight times and provide two assists in the league, a bit underwhelming, by his standards. He’s assisted and scored, once each in the Champions League Group Stage, before the Bianconeri dropped out and down to the Europa League, and will surely look to target this competition to finally make a lasting impression on the Juventus faithful.

Sporting CP: Pedro Gonçalves

The creative midfielder was in the headlines as he scored an outrageous goal against Arsenal in the previous round to help his side into extra-time, which they ended up on the winning side. The Portuguese man is predominantly a wide player, however his versatility, allows him to play a variety of positions in the forward areas as well as in midfield.

This season, he's done exactly that, as he's played alongside Morita and Ugarte, and floating in as a No.10 or even in central midfield, whenever Ugarte isn't available, which will be the case against Juventus, as the Uruguayan, is suspended after receiving a red card in the last round. Goncalves has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season & will be an influential figure in this Sporting side on Thursday.

Match facts

• Juventus are unbeaten in their last eight home matches.
• Sporting Lisbon have a poor record against Italian sides where they've played 15 games away from home against Italian opponents without a win.
• Juventus & Sporting have faced each other only once previously, back in 2017/18, in the UCL Group stages, where they won the home tie 2-1, & drew 1-1 away.
• Juventus haven't conceded a goal in their last three European ties, while winning all of them.

Team & Injury News

For Juventus, Pogba(leg), De Sciglio (Muscle) & Kaio Jorge (Tendon), are the major injury doubtful in the Juventus .squad. Paredes will not be in the match day squad due to disciplinary issues.

For Sporting, their forward duo of Cabral & Paulinho are out injured through muscle injuries, & defender Briganca is also miss out through a long-ligament injury. Midfielder Ugarte will be a big miss through suspension.

Head-to-Head Record

Matches: 3

Juventus: 1

Sporting CP: 1

Draw: 1

Predicted Lineup

Juventus Predicted Lineup (3-5-2): 

Szczesny; Danilo, Bremer, Sandro; Cuadrado, Fagioli, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Di Maria; Vlahovic

Sporting CP Predicted Lineup (3-4-3):

Adan; Diomande, Coates, St. Juste; Esgaio, Goncalves, Morita, Reis; Edwards, Chermiti, Trincao

Match Prediction

Despite coming off a 2-1 defeat against Lazio, at the weekend, Juventus will be looking to find their European form, yet again, against Sporting, who's in the midst of an 11-match unbeaten run. However, with Sporting's poor away record in Italy & the Old Lady extremely strong at home defensively, anything other than a Juventus win looks highly unlikely.

Prediction: Juventus 2 - 0 Sporting CP

Telecast

India – Sony Ten Network and Sony LIV app

UK – BT Sport

US – Paramount+ & CBS

Nigeria –  SuperSports