After three months in hibernation, the Europa League returns on Thursday, when Juventus welcome Nantes to Turin for the first leg of the teams’ playoff round tie. With a place in the last 16 at stake, the crisis-hit Italian giants will want to take a lead to France, but their visitors are enjoying a purple patch at the moment, having lost just one of their last seven Ligue 1 games.
A poor Champions League campaign saw them demoted to the Europa League, and Juventus’ precarious financial and domestic situation means that they can’t afford to scoff at any chance of lifting silverware this season, especially that which would see them play Champions League football next season. Goalkeeper Alban Lafont, once regarded as one of the best young goalkeepers around, has also done fairly well. It is hard to look past Juventus for this game. Prediction: Juventus 1-0 Nantes Juventus vs Nantes Head-To-Head Juventus have not faced Nantes in the Europa League before. Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic has scored eight goals in 12 league starts for Juventus this season.
The make-up of this year’s Europa League last 16 will be decided over the coming week, as eight runners-up from the competition’s group stage and those sides that finished third in the Champions League groups will clash over two legs. Then, the winners will be pitted together with eight seeded teams who have already qualified. Juventus are among the drop-outs from the latter competition, having crashed and burned in Group H, where they lost five times – including to relative minnows Maccabi Haifa. While the Bianconeri bounced back from such a humbling on Europe’s grandest stage by embarking on a long winning run in Serie A without conceding a single goal, events since the turn of the year have left the Europa League as one of their last feasible targets between now and June. credit: – sportslumo Match Details: Match: Juventus vs Nantes Date: 17 February 2023 Time: 1:30 AM Venue: Juventus Stadium Juventus vs Nantes Prediction Juventus are currently ninth in the league, and it would not be controversial to say that they have bid a sad adieu to their dream of lifting the league title this season.
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