Italian giants Juventus are all set to host SC Freiburg on Thursday in their quest of the UEFA Europa League title.
SC Freiburg will travel to Turin to square up against Italian giants Juventus in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League. The first leg of this Round of 16 fixture will be the first-ever competitive meeting between the two clubs.
Juventus have had a tough time in the Italian top flight in the ongoing season. They are currently seventh in the league. And finishing in the top four seems next to impossible. 15 points were docked off from their ongoing campaign because of financial breaches.
Currently, they are 12 points behind fourth-placed AS Roma, who will also be in Europa League action on Thursday. And their only hope to qualify for the Champions League might be by winning the Europa League. The Bianconeri will leave behind their league miseries and focus on the job at hand.
The Italian giants failed to get past the UEFA Champions League group stage. They finished third in Group H and squared up against Nantes in the Europa League knockout playoffs. Juventus won 4-1 on aggregate against the French club to reach the Round of 16.
They will give it their all to secure a first-leg win over SC Freiburg at home. However, they are heading into this fixture on the back of a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Jose Mourinho’s men. Massimiliano Allegri’s men will have to produce a better overall performance to stand a chance against Christian Streich’s team.
Meanwhile, SC Freiburg have had a decent campaign so far. They are currently fifth in the Bundesliga with 42 points out of their 23 matches. They are just seven points behind league leaders Bayern Munich and have a very good chance of finishing in the top four.
Freiburg finished top of their Europa League group to make it into the Round of 16. They had an outstanding time in the group stage as they accumulated 14 points, with four wins and two draws in their six outings.
Christian Streich’s team are heading into this fixture on the back of a 0-0 draw against ten-man Borussia Monchengladbach. They might have failed to claim all three points in their last outing, but they have been in decent form of late.
The German club have been unbeaten in their last five outings in all competition and will look to make it six when they travel to Turin. However, it won’t be that easy a task. The Hard Tackle takes a close look at this fixture and tries to predict the tactics they could deploy.
Team News & Tactics
Juventus
Massimilano Allegri will be without the services of Arkadiusz Milik and Mattia De Sciglio, who are out injured. Apart from the duo, Alex Sandro is doubtful due to the knock that he picked in their previous outing against AS Roma.
Hard at work ahead of Thursday's #JUVSCF clash 💪 pic.twitter.com/Q0FqFIZK8l
— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) March 8, 2023
Meanwhile, Federico Chiesa and Paul Pogba, who made an appearance off the bench last time around, are likely to play a bigger part in this fixture. Allegri will start with the 3-5-2 formation, with Wojciech Szczesny in goal.
Gleison Bremer and Danilo will pair up with Leonardo Bonucci in the centre of defence. Bonucci is all set to make his first start of the calendar year because of the knock that Sandro suffered.
Meanwhile, the midfield five will see Chiesa and Juan Cuadrado start as the wing-backs. While on paper, Chiesa might have a wing-backs role, he is likely to feature as a left winger for the majority of the game. In short, it will be a 3-4-3 in attack and a 5-3-2 in defence.
The three in the centre of the park will be made up of Adrien Rabiot, Manuel Locatelli, and Nicolo Fagioli. As far as the attack is concerned the evergreen Angel Di Maria will pair up with Dusan Vlahovic.
Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Szczesny; Danilo, Bremer, Bonucci; Cuadrado, Fagioli, Locatelli, Rabiot, Chiesa; Di Maria, Vlahovic
SC Freiburg
Christian Streich will be without the services of Daniel-Kofi Kyereh, while there are doubts about Michael Gregoritsch’s availability. Apart from the duo, all other players are fit and available to feature against Juventus.
Und die Stimmung passt auch 😉 pic.twitter.com/B3cQQsgv3H
— SC Freiburg (@scfreiburg) March 8, 2023
Christian Streich is likely to start with the 3-4-3 formation. Mark Flekken will start in goal behind the back three of Kiliann Sildillia, Matthias Ginter and Philipp Lienhart, who will have a tough time squaring up against the Juventus attackers.
Lukas Kubler and Christian Gunter are likely to start as the wing-backs and will try to help out their defence. Maximilian Eggestein will pair with Nicolas Hofler in the centre of the park as they look to keep hold of the ball and frustrate the Italian giants.
Vincenzo Grifo will start on the left, while Roland Sallai will start on the right. And, leading the line will be the German striker Lucas Holer.
Probable Lineup (3-4-3): Flekken; Sildillia, Ginter, Lienhart; Kubler, Eggestein, Hofler, Gunter; Sallai, Holer, Grifo
Key Stats
- This will be the first time Juventus square up against SC Freiburg in a competitive game.
- Freiburg are unbeaten in the Europa League this season having won four and drawn two out of their six group stage games.
- Juventus have not suffered a defeat in their last four home games and have kept a clean sheet in two of those fixtures.
- This is the first time SC Freiburg will face an Italian club in a UEFA-affiliated competition.
- The visitors had the an impressive record in the group stage of the Europa League. They scored the second most goals (13 goals) and conceded the second least (3 goals).
Player to Watch
Federico Chiesa
Chiesa made an appearance off the bench in Juventus’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of AS Roma. The Juventus attacker is all set to play a much bigger part in the Europa League fixture as he is expected to start.
He has not had a major impact in this season because of injuries and will be eager to get going against the German club. The 25-year-old has only found the back of the net once in the entire season and will try his best to improve those numbers on Thursday night.
Prediction
Juventus 2-0 SC Freiburg
Juventus have been inconsistent in the ongoing season. They have not been clinical enough, and their recent record is a touch dodgy. Meanwhile, SC Freiburg have had a great track record of late, and they are unbeaten in their last five outings in all competition.
The recent form suggests that Freiburg should have the upper hand in this fixture. However, there is a big gap in quality between the two teams. Juventus have star players who can make a huge difference in this fixture. And, with Federico Chiesa back fit, one could expect them to get the better of the German outfit. As a result, The Hard Tackle predicts a 2-0 win for the home team.
