Juventus will be aiming to continue their perfect start to the UEFA Champions League campaign when they host VfB Stuttgart at the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday.
Thiago Motta has made some significant strides towards confirming his status as one of the current elite managers in the game. Juventus have picked up form of late and are climbing towards title contention in Serie A while starting their Champions League campaign with a perfect record as they get set to host VfB Stuttgart at the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday.
Back-to-back games against German opposition are always a daunting task for any big team, and in Juventus’s case, they came out on top against RB Leipzig the last time out against the odds. Strikers from both teams had a big say in proceedings, with Dusan Vlahovic and Benjamin Sesko scoring two goals apiece.
Juventus’s Francisco Conceicao settled the tie, ensuring their 100% record in this season’s Champions League. The Bianconeri were somewhat fortunate to get that result following the sending off of their goalkeeper Michele De Gregorio with more than 30 minutes to play in the game, but Motta will be happy with the final outcome.
Juventus did falter right after that in the league with a drab 1-1 draw to Cagliari but bounced back to earn a hard-fought victory over Lazio in Serie A. Motta will want a third consecutive win in the Champions League when they host VfB Stuttgart. In doing so, he will become the third Juventus manager to win his first three games in the competition while joining the likes of Fabio Capello and Marcelo Lippi.
VfB Stuttgart do not have a good enough record against Italian opposition, and this will be their first-ever competitive match against Juventus. Putting their start to the Champions League campaign into context, they were beaten by current holders Real Madrid, which many would have seen as forthcoming. However, the disappointing draw with Sparta Praha is where the expectations faltered.
Either way, Stuttgart has had a bad start to the overall season compared to the heights they reached in the previous campaign. After being linked to some big clubs in the summer, Sebastian Hoeness will have to take big strides to possibly convince those suitors again as he looks to revive Stuttgart’s fortunes after the start they have had so far. This meeting with Juventus could have a different effect, depending on how the result transpires.
Team News & Tactics
Juventus
Thiago Motta will miss several of his stars, including summer arrivals Nicolas Gonzalez, Teun Koopmeiners, and Michele Di Gregorio. The latter will have to serve a suspension following his red card against RB Leipzig, while the other two have thigh and rib issues, respectively, that rule them out of the VfB Stuttgart tie.
Weston McKennie is in line to return following a muscular problem sustained on international duty. Motta may not include the USMNT star immediately, as he does have other options to use there, with Manuel Locatelli and Nicolo Fagioli the preferred choices in central midfield.
With Gleison Bremer out for the season, Motta is still finding the right partnership, at least until January, when he can use the transfer window to find solutions. For this clash, Federico Gatti and Pierre Kalulu are well-placed for the central defensive role, while Mattia Perin will replace the suspended Di Gregorio in goal.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Perin; Savona, Gatti, Kalulu, Cabal; Locatelli, Fagioli; Cambiaso, Yildiz, Mbangula; Vlahovic
VfB Stuttgart
Sebastian Hoeness will have to contend with the absence of several of his first-team stars. Dan-Axel Zagadou, Chris Fuhrich, Leonidas Stergiou, Nikolas Nartey, and Justin Diehl are all out of the picture ahead of midweek.
The manager will still hope to name a strong setup in his usual 4-2-3-1 formation. Anthony Rouault and Jeff Chabot are expected to be named the preferred central defensive pairing. Pascal Stenzel and German international Maximilian Mittelstadt are expected to feature as the full-backs. Atakan Karazor and Angelo Stiller are the choices in central midfield.
Hoeness will hope that newly-capped German international Jamie Leweling will bring his national team form to the Champions League. He also has the joint-most shots without scoring a goal alongside PSG pair Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembele.
Probable Lineup (4-2-3-1): Nubel; Stenzel, Rouault, Chabot, Mittelstadt; Karazor, Stiller; Millot, Undav, Leweling; Demirovic
Key Stats
- Tuesday’s match will be the first-ever competitive meeting between Juventus and VfB Stuttgart.
- Juventus are unbeaten in 16 games across all competitions.
- Only Bayern Munich (69.9%) and Manchester City (67.6%) have averaged more possession than Stuttgart (65%) in the UEFA Champions League this season. Indeed, the German club’s average of 76.5% against Sparta Praha last time out was the highest of any team in a single game in the competition this term.
- VfB Stuttgart have won just one of their 11 major European games against Italian opposition (D4 L6), winning 1-0 against Torino in the UEFA Cup in September 1979.
- Dusan Vlahovic has either scored (2) or assisted (2) in each of his last three UEFA Champions League appearances. The last Juventus striker to do so in four consecutive appearances in the competition was Cristiano Ronaldo between August and December 2020 (five in a row).
Player to Watch
Jamie Leweling
The Stuttgart winger is getting the recognition he deserves, as he took his big German national team opportunity with both hands. On his debut for the Bundesliga team, Leweling scored the winner against the Netherlands, which will keep him in Julian Nagelsmann’s mind for some time to come.
Meanwhile, he has not had the best of time in the attacking third, as he has the joint-most shots without a goal in the UEFA Champions League alongside Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembele. Sebastian Hoeness would like to change this, as he does have some other formidable players to build upon, like Deniz Undav, although he will hope that Leweling could come into his stride against Juventus on Tuesday evening.
Prediction
Juventus 2-1 VfB Stuttgart
Stuttgart will have to bring their A-game to Turin when they continue to search for their first win in this season’s Champions League. However, the task is a big one considering the quality of their opponents, although Sebastian Hoeness’s side does boast a healthy attacking unit to trouble the Juventus defence.
Juventus have progressed steadily into an attractive football team under Motta, unlike the one that played for Massimiliano Allegri. Currently, they are one of the in-form sides in Europe. They will likely continue their unbeaten run and maintain the 100% record in the Champions League this season, as the Bianconeri are expected to take three points against Stuttgart.
