Well, here goes nothing, people.
The Juventus Champions League is on the line for the rest of this season. With a 1-1 aggregate scoreline and no more away goals rule to potentially save them, only one thing and one thing will Juve advance to the Champions League quarter-finals – a win over Villarreal at their home ground in Turin.
We will know if we get more Juventus in Europe nights in a few hours, and it’s very much the kind of situation we want to see in contrast to what has gone down at Juventus Stadium in recent seasons. This was the end of the road the last two campaigns against Lyon and more recently Porto, with brutal first-leg performances forcing Juve to essentially pursue the entire second leg. (And then some stupid things happen in the second leg. Remember that.)
This is about exorcising these demons and taking advantage of this situation where all they have to do is win and nothing else. As we also said recently during the home action, it does not really matter how Juventus get there, it’s just a matter of seeing Max Allegri’s squad there and not getting out in the round of 16 for a third straight season.
Nobody wants that.
At least nobody wants to see things through black and white glasses.
This game will not be easy and you can tell that Villarreal really have a feeling of faith that they will beat Juventus in their home country. They will attack, they will give Juventus some trouble and I do not think anyone expects Juventus to jump them out of the water and tie this with plenty of room to win. (Although I did not care!)
This is a test of Juventus signing information on whether they’re really on the right track, and if they can get past this extremely hungry Villarreal side, then it’s into the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since you know-who’s his superhero act three years ago.
Juventus do not need one of them the Achievements to advance, they just need to win. That’s not too hard to ask, is it?
MATCH INFO
When: Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
Wanted: Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy.
Official start time: 9 a.m. local time in Italy and around Europe, 8 p.m. in the UK, 4 p.m. Eastern time, 1 p.m. Pacific time.
STARTENNERLAGEN
Juventus Start XI (4-4-2 / 4-3-3): Szczesny; Danilo, de Ligt, Rugani, De Sciglio; Cuadrado, Locatelli, Arthur, Rabiot; Vlahovic, Morata.
Juventus Bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Chiellini, Dybala, Pellegrini, Kean, Bernardeschi, Miretti.
Villarreal Start XI (4-4-2): Rulli; Aurier, Albiol, Pau Torres, Capoue; Estupiñan, Parejo, Yeremy Pino, Manu Trigueros; Lo Celso, Danjuma.
Villarreal Bank: Asenjo, Mario Gaspar, Gerard Moreno, Foyth, Iborra, Chukwueze, Dia, Coquelin, Pena, Mandi, Moi Gomez, Pedraza.
HOW TO COOK
Television: TUDN USA, UniMás (USA); BT Sport 3 (United Kingdom).
Streaming: Paramount +, TUDN App, TUDN.com, TUDNxtra, Univision NOW (USA); DAZN (Canada); BTSport.com, BT Sport App (United Kingdom); Amazon Prime Video (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found heyand as always you can follow us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you have not yet, enroll in the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join the discussion below.
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