Juventus will welcome Zenit St. Petersburg to the Juventus Stadium this Tuesday evening as they look to secure a place into the knockout rounds of the Champions League while the away side have everything to play for.
Max Allegri has had a tough time in his return to a club where he broke all sorts of records and won title after title, however, back in the Champions League, it’s all going quite swimmingly.
😤 𝙂𝙀𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 #𝙅𝙐𝙑𝙀𝙕𝙀𝙉𝙄𝙏 𝙕𝙊𝙉𝙀 😤📸 https://t.co/eNe9tVMGfc#JuveUCL pic.twitter.com/AyR4uq43nW— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) November 1, 2021
😤 𝙂𝙀𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙄𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 #𝙅𝙐𝙑𝙀𝙕𝙀𝙉𝙄𝙏 𝙕𝙊𝙉𝙀 😤📸 https://t.co/eNe9tVMGfc#JuveUCL pic.twitter.com/AyR4uq43nW
In fact, with a win here putting a nine-point gap between the two, the Old Lady will be in the last 16 for the eighth year on the run with a victory.
Juventus have managed to famously beat the European champions Chelsea in this competition this season, and as they are expected to beat Malmo, the Italian side and the reigning European champions are going to be swinging it out for the top spot for the final two games.
As of now, however, the Turin outfit have a perfect record of five goals scored and zero let in, while winning all three of their games so far. Bayern Munich, Ajax, and Liverpool are the only other sides left boasting such a flawless start.
On the other hand to Juventus’ European brilliance this season is their torrid league form. After 11 games, form should have picked up by now but just three months into his return, Allegri sees his side in ninth and already an extraordinary 16 points off the league title, which may just be out of sight already.
To put into perspective just how poor this is for a team that only two seasons ago crowned a ninth title in a row, newly-promoted Empoli are level on points with their 15 so far.
At the same time, the Old Lady have managed to concede 15 and score 15 too, which all but sums up their torrid form so far.
As for Zenit, the Russian giants are once again flying in their homeland as they sit top of the Russian Premier League having won 13 games from their 16 so far, racking up a fabulous array of 34 goals.
Regardless of such form, back in Europe, it’s been a constant struggle for them competing with the big guns of the continent, and in reality, Zenit’s best hope at continuing their European showcase is by finishing as one of the best third-placed teams from the groups.
Forebet predicts a low-scoring win for the Italian giants here in a game that sees under 2.5 goals.