Sporting (1) 1-1 (2) Juventus: Three Things We Learned

Juventus held on to draw with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal and progress through to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals.

On what proved to be a dramatic night of action, Sporting and Juventus battled it out for 95 minutes for the right to play in the final four. In the end, the game ended 1-1, sending the Old Lady through on aggregate courtesy of their 1-0 win in the first leg.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at a few of our big takeaways from the tie.

The confidence booster

Just a few hours before the game kicked off, it was announced that Juventus’ 15-point deduction for illicit transfer activity had been reversed. Therefore, in the blink of an eye, they jumped from seventh to third place in Serie A. The whole situation feels a bit shambolic at this stage but either way, it’s a bit strange that such vital information was passed down on the same day they had such a huge game.

Sporting fought hard

Sporting Lisbon made this as uncomfortable as possible for Juventus from the word go and after grabbing an equaliser courtesy of a Marcus Edwards penalty, they really played off of the atmosphere generated by the home crowd. Juve certainly held their own and eventually clung on to reach the semi-finals, but Sporting put them through their paces, and that’s something they can be proud of as they move forward.

The new favourites?

While Roma will take on Bayer Leverkusen in the next round, Juventus will take on Europa League specialists Sevilla. It feels, to us, like the winner of that tie will go on to win the whole thing, and we fancy Juve to get the job done. They’re confident, they have a strong squad, and they’ll take a look at the complacency showcased by Manchester United to ensure they don’t make the same mistake.