UEFA Champions League: Juventus vs Sporting preview

UEFA Champions League: Juventus vs Sporting preview
Serie A champions Juventus are looking to bounce back after an unconvincing start to the season when they face Portuguese side Sporting at the Allianz Stadium in Turin on Wednesday. The two teams have never met before in an European competition. Juventus have a good track record against teams from Portugal, they have won seven of their thirteen meetings and lost just four times. Sporting have faced Italian opponents on no less than 27 occasions and only managed to win five times. Juventus suffered their first Serie A defeat of the season last weekend as they got beaten at home by Lazio and slipped five points behind current league leaders Napoli. Head coach Massimiliano Allegri and the Bianconeri fans expect an immediate response from the team, but Wednesday's match is also important for the side's Champions League future as they have collected just three points in the first two games (3-0 defeat at Barcelona followed by a 2-0 home victory over Olympiakos). Benedikt Howedes and Mattia De Sciglio are injured, while Claudio Marchisio and Miralem Pjanic might recover in time. Sporting have done well so far in the Champions League group stage, first they secured a thrilling 3-2 victory at Olympiakos and then lost 1-0 at home against Barcelona. Sporting qualified for the group stage after a convincing 5-1 victory at Steaua Bucharest in the playoffs. They are still unbeaten in the Portuguese top flight after eight matches, with six wins and two draws, and last week they had an easy 4-2 victory over Oleiros in the Portuguese Cup. Fábio Coentrao, Alan Ruiz and Seydou Doumbia are injury doubts for the visitors ahead of Wednesday's match. Probable line-ups: Juventus: Buffon - Sturaro, Barzagli, Chiellini, Sandro - Khedira, Matuidi - Cuadrado, Dybala, Mandzukic - Higuain Sporting: Patricio - Piccini, Coates, Mathieu, J. Silva - Carvalho, Battaglia - Martins, Fernandes, Acuna - Dost My prediction: Juventus to win 2-0. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Juventus win - 1.36 Draw - 5.25 Sporting win - 10.00
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