Europa League draw results: Juventus to face Sporting in the quarterfinals
From France to Germany to Portugal in the Europa League.
The second legs of the Europa League round of 16 took place yesterday, with Juventus securing their spot after a largely drama-free 2-0 win over Freiburg in Germany.
We’ve looked at the seven clubs that have progressed to the next round alongside the Bianconeri and it’s a varied field indeed, with clubs we know very well and some we don’t know that well.
In the draw, carried out at UEFA headquarters in Switzerland this afternoon, Juventus faced a side who, against all odds, upset Premier League leaders Arsenal. Sporting Clube de Portugal needed a penalty shoot-out to progress after a 2-2 draw in Lisbon before coming from behind in yesterday’s 1-1 draw in London.
Today’s draw not only decided who played who in the quarter-finals but also paved the way to the final and if Juve beat Sporting then they meet the winners of Manchester United against six-time winners Sevilla in the semi-finals. The other half of the draw is Bayer Leverkusen vs Union Saint Gilloise and Feyenoord vs AS Roma.
The first leg of the quarter-finals will take place in Turin on Thursday 13 April, with the two teams playing in Portugal a week later on 20 April.
Sporting, led by Ruben Amorim, sit 4th in the domestic league NOS, four points behind Braga in third place. However, they have done their best work in Europe this season. Juve don’t have fond memories of their Portuguese opponents, having been beaten twice by Benfica in the Champions League group stage this season and being eliminated by Porto in the quarter-finals of the same competition in 2020/21.
The last time the two teams met was actually in the 2017/18 Champions League group stage, when Juve won 2-1 at home and drew 1-1 away, two results they would now like to take .
Ex-player Gianluca Pessotto spoke at the draw as a club representative on the next opponents of the Bianconeri.
“It will be a nice game, certainly against a strong opponent. They proved it yesterday by eliminating Arsenal, one of the contenders for the win. Sporting also come from the Champions League so they will be ready to do well just like us.
“The feeling is that it was a difficult draw. Sporting is a young and strong team, they are in a good moment even if they are behind Benfica in the league. If we keep going we’ll face Manchester United or Sevilla who are strong too but we’re Juventus so we have to fight to the end. Our opponents are certainly worried too.”
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