Sturm Graz vs Juventus - Europa League Play Off Preview
Sturm Graz take on Juventus in the Europa League qualifying playoff round tonight. The match will be held at the UPC Arena and the Italian giants are clear favorites.
Sturm Graz beat Dinamo Tbilisi 3-1 over both legs to reach the Europa League play offs, where they will face Serie A giants, Juventus. Sturm have featured in the Champions League on previous occasions, even managing to progress to the second group stage, some 10 years ago. The last time the Austrian club managed to make it to the top two of the Austrian Bundesliga was also about a decade ago. However, Strum will be looking to turn things around in this fixture, which promises to be action packed.
Juventus have problems of their own. The Serie A giants never really recovered after the Calciopoli scandal, which shook Italian football. The only silverware the Italian side has won since then has been the 2007 Serie B title, after which the club was expected to bounce back, but that was not to be. Once again Juventus fell short when they finished out of the top 5 in Serie A, which was a big disappointment. The only silver lining of that cloud however, was that they managed to secure a place in the Europa League qualifiers.
Alessandro Del Piero, the Juventus skipper is the leading scorer for the club, scoring 274 goals in 644 matches – an impressive feat. He will look to be the difference between the two sides, hoping to score a few more while he leads his team to victory. Going on their recent performance, Juventus will need a little inspiration, if anything else to get a decent result in tonight’s match.
In their last six matches, the former Italian champions have won three matches, lost two and drawn one. Not a very convincing result, and the team will not be confident going into the Europa League’s play off, which they will hope to do well in, because it might just be their only shot at silverware this season. Their last match was against Shamrock Rovers, Europa League third round, which they barely won, 1-0.
Sturm’s result in the last two matches, as compared to that off Juventus is not much better. The Austrian side has won two matches, lost two matches and has managed draws in the remaining two. Their last match, which was against Rapid Vienna ended with them stumbling to a 2-0 loss. They will hope to do better tonight, in a match that could make or break their season.
Probable Starting XI
Sturm Graz: Gratzei; Strandfest, Schildenfeld, Feldhofer, Purcher; Weber; Holzl, Bukva, Muratovic; Kienast, Szabics
Juventus: Storari; Motta, Bonucci, Chiellini, De Ceglie; Lanzafame, Sissoko, Marchisio, Pepe; Diego; Amauri
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