Juventus Must Be Vigilant, Sevilla Has Never Lost in Leg 2 Matches at Home

semifinals leg The second Europa League will take place on Friday (19/5/2023) in the morning WIT, which will bring hosts Sevilla against Juventus to fight for a position in the final.

A 1-1 draw in Turin last week left both sides confident of a win at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan, where the home side have never lost in the competition when they hosted the second leg.

In fact, of the nine knockout games Sevilla have played at home in the second leg, they have always been strong, something that has never happened before in Europe’s second tier competition.

Overall, the six-time champions have won 24 of their last 27 Europa League games at the Sanchez-Pizjuan, but they had to do it again this week due to a first-leg draw.

Taking the lead thanks to Youssef En-Nesyri’s first-half goal at the Allianz Stadium, Sevilla let their lead slip right at the last minute, when Federico Gatti was the hero for Juventus with a close-range equalizer in the 96th minute.

As a result, the Spanish team won only one of the club’s five meetings in continental competition.

Los Rojiblancos now have to fight for a place in the final, where Roma or Bayer Leverkusen will wait.

Meanwhile, Italian giants Juventus are aiming to reach their first European final since 2017, since they were eventually beaten in the Champions League final.

After saving a home game, Juventus travel to Spain with a tough precedent set against them, as they have won only two of their last 17 away matches against Spanish sides in the knockout competition; losing 12 times and keeping only one clean sheet in the process.

However, the Bianconeri have beaten Nantes, Freiburg and Sporting CP in the Europa League this season, and while they have lost in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, a win in Europe could erase some of this season’s failures.

In local competition, three successive wins over Lecce, Atalanta and, most recently, Cremonese have seen Max Allegri’s side sit second in the standings, eight points clear of fifth-placed Milan with just three games remaining.

Despite scoring in the 3-0 win at Valladolid, Rafa Mir has had to make way for Youssef En-Nesyri up front, with the latter scoring nine goals in 13 home games since returning from the World Cup.

After picking up a muscle problem in the first leg, Lucas Ocampos may be fit enough to back up the Moroccan striker, while goalkeeper Yassine Bounou will replace Marko Dmitrovic between the hosts’ posts. Suso, Joan Jordan and Marcao are expected to miss out.

Meanwhile, the mainstay player who is absent from the visiting team is definitely Paul Pogba. Oa picked up a thigh injury during the 2-0 win against Cremonese. Mattia De Sciglio and captain Leonardo Bonucci are also absent.

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Further forward, Pogba’s role as lone striker support will go to Angel Di Maria, who despite picking up an injury at the start of the season leads Juve’s European competition statistics in several categories: goals (four), assists (three), goal involvement (seven) and chances created (21).

Player Estimates:
Sevilla: Bounou (GK), Navas, Gudelj, Bade, Acuna, Fernando, Raft, Ocampos, Lamela, Gil; En-Nesyri

Juventus: Szczesny (GK), Danilo, Gatti, Sandro, Cuadrado, Fagioli, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic, Di Maria, Vlahovic.

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