Juventus Women Serie A Playoff Preview
![ALLIANZ STADIUM, TORINO, ITALY - 2021/11/27: The Juventus logo on the screens of the Juventus Stadium before the Serie A match between Juventus Fc and Atalanta Bc. Atalanta Bc wins 1-0 over Juventus Fc. (Photo by Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images) ALLIANZ STADIUM, TORINO, ITALY - 2021/11/27: The Juventus logo on the screens of the Juventus Stadium before the Serie A match between Juventus Fc and Atalanta Bc. Atalanta Bc wins 1-0 over Juventus Fc. (Photo by Marco Canoniero/LightRocket via Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/21c3a5cea8cfb6819ce7b3994dfa232a7c819e82b04ddf71cd5afebcdb18bf64.jpg)
In Serie A Femminile’s new format, the top 5 teams in the league will play for the Scudetto. The round-robin format will decide this year’s champion as well as what two teams will qualify for the Champions League.
Finishing in 2nd place through the regular season, Juventus are in place to fight for a 6th straight Scudetto. In addition to trying to win the Scudetto, Juve will be looking to return to the Champions League. The squad was eliminated from the Champions League this year in the group stage, losing to Arsenal and Lyon.
The 4 clubs participating in the Championship playoff this season alongside Juventus are;
- Roma (1st Place – 48 points)
- Internazionale (3rd Place – 35 points)
- Milan (4th Place – 34 points)
- Fiorentina (5th Place – 35 points)
The team has been firing on all cylinders all season and has had some great individual performances leading the way.
Going into the playoff round with the most goals scored and the second least goals against has them in good shape to make a run. Girelli is second in the league in goals scored with 13, one of two players in double digits. Midfielder Julia Grosso leads the league in assists (7), followed closely by teammate Caruso in third (5). It is no surprise that Juventus is the only club to score a goal in every match when seeing the numbers they are putting up, averaging more than 2.5 goals per game.
The offense may be on fire, but that should also not overshadow the defense this season. Goalkeeper Peyraud-Magnin is tied for the league lead in clean sheets (7) with AS Roma’s Camelia Ceasar. This was impacted by great improvements from defenders Lisa Boattin, Cecilia Salvai, and Sara Gama who all have career-high tackle completion percentages this season, raising their previous highs by more than 10% each.
Juventus begin the playoffs against AC Milan.
Juve’s most recent loss comes to AC Milan on February 4th in a 2-1 defeat. Boattin received a red card in the 45th minute and Milan capitalized scoring both of their goals during the 11 versus 10 advantage. The squad will look to bounce back and build off of their recent Coppa Italia semi-final victory to start the playoff off strong.
Juventus Women’s play-off schedule first-leg matches:
- vs Milan (March 18th, 10:00am EST)
- @ Internazionale (March 25th, 9:30am EST)
- vs Fiorentina (April 16th, 8:30am)
- @ Roma (April 22nd, 8:30am)