The Villarreal visits Turin on Wednesday with the aim of achieving a historic classification for the quarterfinals of the Champions League (1-1 in the first leg), while Chelsea, defending continental champions, travel to Lille with a 2-0 lead achieved at Stamford Bridge.
– Everything to be decided in Turin –
The elimination this season of the highest value of goals in the opposite field means that Villarreal He “only” needs the victory in Turin to take the classification to quarters and continue opting to match the historic semifinal of 2006.
The 1-1 three weeks ago at the Estadio de la Cerámica means that everything is to be decided in the second leg, with a slight advantage, to play at home and because of history, for Juventus.
After a difficult start to the season, both teams come to this match at their best: the Spanish team has five victories in the last seven games of the championship and remains in the fight to qualify again for the Champions League next year (7th, six points behind Atlético).
Juventus, meanwhile, have not lost in Serie A since November 27 (1-0 against Atalanta) and since then they only fell in the Super Cup final (2-1 against Inter) counting all competitions.
Lhe Italians also have 22-year-old Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovicsigned in January to Fiorentina for 70 million euros, but who barely needed 33 seconds at Villarreal to score his first goal in the Champions League, but they will also have to be more solid defensively if they don’t want to suffer against the Spanish team.
– Lille for the comeback –
In the other round, everything seems decided after the result of the first leg, 2-0 in favor of Chelsea at Stamford Bridgeso Lille has no choice but to believe in the epic comeback against the current European champion.
“It will be difficult because it is Chelsea, but we have already seen others (comebacks) in football. You can’t stop us from dreaming of a surprise,” French champion Jocelyn Gourvennec’s coach said last Friday.
The ‘Dogues’, in addition, will have the pressure of being the last French club in the competition after Real Madrid eliminated Paris SG.
As if the undertaking were not difficult, Lille will face the game without their Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches, one of the best on the team, who was injured last Friday against Saint Etienne (0-0).
Of course Chelsea’s situation is all but calm since the British government decided last week, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to sanction several Russian oligarchs, including the president of the London club, Roman Abramovich, close to the power of Moscow.
Among the restrictions imposed, the limitation of travel expenses to 24,000 euros, an insignificant amount when talking about the Champions League. Of course, coach Thomas Tuchel joked that he was willing to “drive a minibus” if necessary to take his players to the northern French city.
– Round of 16 second leg program from Wednesday’s Champions League:
(16:00 Bolivian time) Lille (FRA) – Chelsea (ENG) (0-2 in the first leg)
Juventus (ITA) – Villarreal (ESP) (1-1 in the first leg)
The Villarreal visits Turin on Wednesday with the aim of achieving a historic classification for the quarterfinals of the Champions League (1-1 in the first leg), while Chelsea, defending continental champions, travel to Lille with a 2-0 lead achieved at Stamford Bridge.
– Everything to be decided in Turin –
The elimination this season of the highest value of goals in the opposite field means that Villarreal He “only” needs the victory in Turin to take the classification to quarters and continue opting to match the historic semifinal of 2006.
The 1-1 three weeks ago at the Estadio de la Cerámica means that everything is to be decided in the second leg, with a slight advantage, to play at home and because of history, for Juventus.
After a difficult start to the season, both teams come to this match at their best: the Spanish team has five victories in the last seven games of the championship and remains in the fight to qualify again for the Champions League next year (7th, six points behind Atlético).
Juventus, meanwhile, have not lost in Serie A since November 27 (1-0 against Atalanta) and since then they only fell in the Super Cup final (2-1 against Inter) counting all competitions.
Lhe Italians also have 22-year-old Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovicsigned in January to Fiorentina for 70 million euros, but who barely needed 33 seconds at Villarreal to score his first goal in the Champions League, but they will also have to be more solid defensively if they don’t want to suffer against the Spanish team.
– Lille for the comeback –
In the other round, everything seems decided after the result of the first leg, 2-0 in favor of Chelsea at Stamford Bridgeso Lille has no choice but to believe in the epic comeback against the current European champion.
“It will be difficult because it is Chelsea, but we have already seen others (comebacks) in football. You can’t stop us from dreaming of a surprise,” French champion Jocelyn Gourvennec’s coach said last Friday.
The ‘Dogues’, in addition, will have the pressure of being the last French club in the competition after Real Madrid eliminated Paris SG.
As if the undertaking were not difficult, Lille will face the game without their Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches, one of the best on the team, who was injured last Friday against Saint Etienne (0-0).
Of course Chelsea’s situation is all but calm since the British government decided last week, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to sanction several Russian oligarchs, including the president of the London club, Roman Abramovich, close to the power of Moscow.
Among the restrictions imposed, the limitation of travel expenses to 24,000 euros, an insignificant amount when talking about the Champions League. Of course, coach Thomas Tuchel joked that he was willing to “drive a minibus” if necessary to take his players to the northern French city.
– Round of 16 second leg program from Wednesday’s Champions League:
(16:00 Bolivian time) Lille (FRA) – Chelsea (ENG) (0-2 in the first leg)
Juventus (ITA) – Villarreal (ESP) (1-1 in the first leg)
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