Juve meet Europa League masters
Not only in the Champions League have two Italian teams made it to the semi-finals. In the second European tournament, Juventus Turin and AS Roma have a chance to reach the final, the difference to the premier class is that they don't already meet in the semifinals and there could even be an Italian final. In the first leg, Juventus host Sevilla FC and Bayer Leverkusen visit Rome.
Thursday is Europa League day and the top game is clearly Juventus and Sevilla. Kick-off is at 21:00 in Turin at the Juventus Stadium. With officially 36 “Scudetti” won, Juve is Italy's record champion, but cannot hold a candle to the guests internationally. With six titles, Sevilla FC is a record winner of the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa Leagueand internationally one of the most successful Spanish clubs. In the second game of the quarter-finals they easily knocked out a weak Manchester United, scored three goals and kept a clean sheet.
At Juventus it was not quite so clear, after winning the game 1-0 at home, the Italians saved themselves with a 1-1 in the semi-finals. It doesn't matter who wins these two games here, he will undoubtedly go into the final as a favorite. Seville would then have the chance to win their seventh European Cup, with Juve it would be "only" their fourth.
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Eliminated in the Ch. L., heading for the Europa League title
On Thursday evening, Juventus will try to defeat Europa League specialists Sevilla in the semi-finals. One of five Italian semi-finalists in the three UEFA club competitions, Juve have technically never won the Europa League apart from the UEFA Cup. Nonetheless, they are determined to win something after a controversial season and will look to take a lead back to Spain. After suffering a defeat in the group stage of the Champions League last autumn, Juventus have adapted well to the demands of the Europa League. Sporting CP were knocked out in the quarter-finals after defeating Nantes and Freiburg.Juve haven't lost a game in six games, and they even managed to keep a clean sheet in four of them.
Juventus have adopted a defensive strategy in Serie A this season, specializing in narrow 1-0 wins. Although there have been some setbacks, such as two defeats by newly promoted Monza and a 5-1 defeat by Napoli, the team enjoyed some success after the 15-point penalty was temporarily lifted. Two wins against Lecce and Atalanta in four days have seen Juventus move up to second place in the table and now have a good chance of a Champions League return by finishing in the top four. As well as established stars, Juventus have also brought young talents into the first-team this season, such as Nicolo Fagioli and England winger Samuel Iling-Junior, who scored the opener against Atalanta on Sunday. In many ways, the future could be bright in Turin, but Allegri has been under short-term pressure to succeed - and not just since Thursday.
Although most of Juventus' regulars are available after a series of injuries - including Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa, albeit not in top form - Mattia De Sciglio has had to undergo reconstructive surgery on his right knee following an injury against Lecce. Leandro Paredes is returning from Serie A suspension so Max Allegri should have a full squad available on Thursday. However, as always, the Tuscan tactician remains undecided on player selection and line-ups. Angel Di Maria has featured prominently in Juve's Europa League run so far and is likely to support either Arkadiusz Milik or Dusan Vlahovic up front.
Sevilla through manager changes
Against all odds, Sevilla have once again made it to the semi-finals of the Europa League. In the league, the successful Spanish club is only in 11th place. If they were to end the season like this, it would be their worst result since they were promoted back to La Liga in 2001. However, Sevilla FC have reacted to the ongoing sporting failure and sacked coach Jorge Sampaoli after just six months.This is the second change of manager for Sevilla FC this season, after the Argentine took over from Julen Lopetegui at the beginning of October. Lopetegui was sacked after the team suffered a 4-1 home defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League group stage. As a result, they were relegated as third in the group from the Champions League. Sampaoli was then able to lead Sevilla through the Europa League to the quarter-finals against Manchester United, but in the league they couldn't really convince with a 14th place. The vacant post has now been taken over by the 62-year-old Spaniard José Luis Mendilibar.
With a new coach in their luggage, things suddenly went like clockwork for “Los Rojiblancos”. In his nine games as coach, Sevilla have suffered just one defeat, at home to a currently strong Girona FC. In the Champions League, too, we were able to convince across the board. After a bit of luck in the first leg against the “Red Devils”, they shot them to the moon 3-0 in the second leg.
The first game was played at Old Trafford and turned into Manchester United's nightmare. They led the game 2-0 up to the 84th minute, but ultimately only managed to draw thanks to the two own goals by Malacia and Maguire. In the second game, the star was En-Nesyri, who was able to shine with a brace. With Loic Bade's goal, the winner was clearly SV Sevilla. Even if the final results are good now, there is definitely still room for improvement defensively. Mendilibar's side have also conceded nine goals in their last nine games. This could also be a result of the many injuries Sevilla are dealing with at the moment.
Ex-Bayern player and centre-back Tanguy Nianzou is likely to remain out with an unknown injury. Unfortunately for coach Mendilibar, Marcao is also yet to play after suffering another muscle injury. Joan Jordon and Suso also continue to visit the hospital tent. Suso's absence could see Ivan Rakitic, a veteran midfielder, move to the preferred position or Ocampos' return to the squad. Jose Luis Mendilibar has usually opted for Marko Dmitrovic as goalkeeper, but Morocco's World Cup hero Yassine Bounou is likely to start in Europe.
Juventus - Sevilla: What to expect?
With the confidence from recent successes and regular goals, Sevilla can take the initiative in this semi-final and gain an advantage in the first leg. Juventus are a team that wants to be safe, but they can sometimes be taken by surprise and don't always have the right answer. Nevertheless we believe that Juve will win this duel . In addition, with Juventus' low goal rate, we're guessing under 2.5 goals.
- Juventus to win (risk)
- Under 2.5
* All odds and markets are correct at time of publication and subject to change.