Juventus vs Sporting Lisbon preview, prediction & team news

The Bianconeri's goal is to make it a hat-trick of wins since sacking Igor Tudor, with Tuesday's tie against the Portuguese giants a tricky task for new Juve boss Luciano Spalletti to tackle.
Juventus welcome back their rising star Kenan Yildiz for the Turin visit of Sporting Lisbon
Juventus welcome back their rising star Kenan Yildiz for the Turin visit of Sporting Lisbon | Image Photo Agency/GettyImages

Following a fabulous midweek 3-1 home triumph over Udinese under interim manager Massimo Brambilla, Spalletti steered the side to a slender 2-1 success at newly-promoted Cremonese with a lone target man.

Spalletti's career has always witnessed his versatile tactical approach with the aim to win matches yet producing attractive play. He has been tasked with reviving Juve's Champions League campaign when Sporting Lisbon visit the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday (8pm local time ko).

They languish in 25th place in the league phase of the Champions League, having only collected two points from their opening three games when Igor Tudor was at the helm.

Their leaky defense in Europe's leading club competition has seen them concede seven goals, something that Spalletti needs to address as well as ensure that star striker Dusan Vlahovic becomes more clinical in front of goal.

Spalletti revealed at the pre-match conference on Monday evening: "Dusan has a bit of an advantage over other players, because he knows what's expected here at Juventus when you step onto the pitch wearing this jersey.

"He's very happy here [despite the contract chaos]. He doesn't mind knowing his contract is expiring, and the other night he gave splendid responses in every way."

Turkish talent Kenan Yidliz, who missed Spalletti's maiden match as Juventus manager because of a knee injury, is expected to feature against Sporting Lisbon who warmed up by beating Alverca 2-0 on last Friday, who they thrashed 5-1 three days earlier in the Taca da Liga quarter-finals.

Sporting Lisbon kicked off their Champions League by hammering Kairat 4-1 in September. They fell 2-1 at Napoli last month, but bounced back to see off Olympique Marseille 2-1 and sit 11th in the 32-team table.

Bordes makes Sporting Lisbon purr

Rui Bordes, the Sporting Lisbon head coach, loves his sides to attack and get the ball into the box. Had they managed to be more ruthless against Alverca on Halloween then they could have drummed up a frightening final score.

As they tend to overwhelm opponents, they have averaged 2.5 goals from their Liga Portugal games this term with an unbeaten record from five away matches. Luis Suarez has found the back of net seven times in the league, but Pedro Goncalves is Juve's biggest threat with seven league strikes and five goal assists.

Goncalves is expected to line-up alongside Geovany Quenda and Francisco Trincao who will support Colombia international Suarez.

Spalletti admitted that it would not be a stroll in his first home game in charge of Juventus and said: "Tomorrow will be a very difficult match, we will be facing a team that plays good football. Since Borges has been at the club they have had a clear vision of the game.

"They are difficult to read as a team. They are very good at switching roles and have great quality in the attacking midfield."

Spalletti supportive of Yildiz

Spalletti has Yildiz back and explained: "A good starting point for anyone is to ask the other person what conditions they perform best in. In Yildiz's case, when asked about his position, he replied that he likes to play both wider, on the outside, and as a second striker. Kenan will be available tomorrow.

"Andrea [Cambiaso] is crucial to our team. He's an extremely modern player. Andrea is a strong, very strong player, who offers you so many options on the pitch."

With his 2022/23 Serie A success with Napoli frequently seeing a formidable 4-3-3 approach, now that Spalletti has time to evaluate his squad then he is likely to revert to this rather than stick with the same formation that only edged a narrow victory against Cremonese.

Ever eager Spalletti enthused: "The Champions League is a fascinating competition. If football were a hotel, the Champions League would be its most beautiful room, its suite."

Expected line-ups

Juventus possible starting XI:

Di Gregorio - Kalulu, Rugani, Gatti - Cambiaso, Thuram, Locatelli, Koopmeiners, Kostic - Openda, Vlahovic

Sporting Lisbon possible starting XI:

Silva - Vagiannidis, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo - Hjulmand, Morita; Quenda, Trincao, Goncalves - Suarez

Old Juve prediction

Juventus 2 Sporting Lisbon 2

Thrills 'n' spills are anticipated with relentless goalmouth action. The visitors will be aiming to pepper Juve's box, but shotstopper Michele Di Gregorio tends to relish the big matches by producing top-notch performances.

The shaky defense are unlikely to deal with the endless threats, and at the other it could be a rip-roaring partnership between Vlahovic and Yildiz.

Despite Sporting Lisbon's history of losing on Italian turf, Juventus are not quite as well-honed as Antonio Conte's Napoli were in the competition.