Sporting Lisbon will welcome Juventus to the Portuguese capital this Thursday evening with the home side looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit after a narrow victory for the Serie A side in Turin in the Europa League quarter-finals first leg.
Despite the 1-0 win back in Italy, Juventus head into this game looking for an immediate bounce back into the win column after a dreadful performance at the Mapei Stadium saw them lose on the road once more to Sassuolo. The side from Turin had just three shots on target that day and it was a goal midway through the second half that settled it for Sassuolo.
Combine this with a loss to Lazio earlier in April and it now means two losses in a row for Juventus for just the second time this season. Worse yet, with their 15-point deduction in Serie A, it now means the club come into this game with a five-point gap to deal with on Atalanta in sixth to now make it even tougher for them to get back into Europe for next season with just eight games left on the clock in Italy.
Nevertheless, they have still won the second-most games in Serie A alongside Lazio with 18 each. At the same time, with 25 goals let in from 28 games, only Lazio and Napoli have a better goals difference and without the 15-point takeaway for Juventus this season, they would be sitting third by three points.
After losses in Serie A, it now means the club's only win in April has come in the first leg against Sporting Lisbon. Federico Gatti was the difference that day, despite Sporting having six shots on target and 60% of the ball.
As for Sporting, they failed to win once again last weekend, as the club stunningly had 26 shots and five on target but still drew 1-1 at home with Arouca. Worse yet, the goal from Pedro Goncalves came from behind against Arouca and from the penalty spot.
The Primeira Liga side are now sitting behind Braga in third by seven points with just six games left to play, and Porto in second sit nine clear of them and it does look as if the club's chances of a return to the Champions League falls within this game.
