Juventus vs Chelsea: Bianconeri look to trouble reigning UCL champs
Juventus will take on Chelsea in the group stages on Wednesday evening, nine years after both sides met at this juncture. The Blues, as we all know, will come into this tie as reigning champs. Interestingly, they were also the holders of the UCL nine years ago when they arrived in Turin for their group stage match, and by the time things were settled, Chelsea had made history for all the wrong reasons: by becoming the first title holder to exit the Champions League at the group stage.
Of course, they went on to win the Europa League under Roberto di Matteo, and thus were able to redeem themselves after much embarrassment. The same couldn’t be said for Juventus, who were unable to progress after being beaten both home and away in the quarter-finals by eventual Champions League winners Bayern Munich. Now, nine years later, the two sides will meet once again. Both Juventus and Chelsea finished in fourth place last season, but the Blues arguably had the more successful campaign, winning their second UCL title after beating Manchester City 1-0. The Bianconeri, by contrast, barely scraped into fourth and thus saw their nine year reign as champions of Italy come to an end.
This season has also been a tough one for Juventus, who failed to win their first four matches for the first time in 60 years. They have since turned things around, and come into this game unbeaten in their last four across all comps. That includes back to back 3-2 wins over Spezia and Sampdoria, but their latest win has come at a high price, with key man Paulo Dybala set to miss this upcoming game due to a thigh strain. The Argentinian star is also joined on the sidelines by Alvaro Morata, who was also injured during that game and so will also not be available for selection. This means that young striker Moise Kean, back in Turin after spells with PSG and Everton, will be tasked with helping lead the line alongside winger Federico Chiesa, who finally made his return from injury recently.
Given his poor performances this season, Wojciech Szczesny could again be benched for this game, which means that Mattia Perin will be tasked with trying to keep Chelsea’s attack at bay. Keeping clean sheets is something that has eluded Juventus for a while – they’ve managed just one in their last 21 across all comps – and Szczesny has been at fault for some of those goals, so Allegri could be pushed into making a switch for yet another match.
Chelsea, meanwhile, lost their first game of the Premier League season last weekend, going down 1-0 to City at home. That means Thomas Tuchel’s men now sit in third, but are only one point behind current league leaders Liverpool. One shouldn’t be surprised to see the standings flip flop weekly as things are pretty tight in the table at the moment, so the recent loss, while disappointing, may not really have too much of an impact on Chelsea’s title hopes this term.
The Blues will also have to make do without several key players, with American star Christian Pulisic still not fully recovered. The former Dortmund man is also joined on the injury list by English youngsters Mason Mount and Reece James, the latter of whom suffered a twisted ankle in Chelsea’s loss last weekend.
Like Juventus, Chelsea also won their Champions League opener, with Romelu Lukaku earning them a 1-0 victory over Russian outfit Zenit. However, it was far from a convincing performance from the Blues, and despite Juve’s poor start to the season, they’ll need to up their game if they want to take a huge step towards securing a round of 16 berth. Although Chelsea have lost just three of their last 32 Champions League group stage games, they have struggled against Italian opponents, especially on the road.
In fact, in addition to losing to Juventus in 2012, Chelsea have lost their last four away games against Italian sides. That started with Inter, followed by Napoli, Juventus, and most recently, Roma. Juventus naturally will be hoping to ensure that Chelsea’s hoodoo continues, but will they be able to again pull off the same result they did nine years ago?
