Juventus Advance Past Freiburg, Draw Sporting In Europa League Quarter Finals

The UEFAEFA
Europa League appears to be providing a welcome distraction for Juventus over recent weeks, as the Italian club continued their progress and advanced to the quarterfinals on Thursday evening.

Indeed, the Bianconeri had only lost one of their last 10 games ahead of the second leg in Germany, a streak which goes back to early February as they quickly found balance in the constant rhythm of midweek games in Europe followed by a weekend fixture in Serie A.

Already holding a 1-0 lead over SCSC
Freiburg thanks to their first leg victory in Turin, Juve went to Germany seeking to build on that advantage and maintain the momentum gathered as they eliminated Nantes from the Europa League and notched domestic victories over Salernitana, Fiorentina, Spezia, Torino and Sampdoria.

Things were made tougher as Leonardo Bonucci, Paul Pogba, Arkadiusz Milik and Alex Sandro were all ruled out with injuries, while a lack of fitness meant Angel Di Maria and Federico Chiesa could only be named as substitutes.

Freiburg almost equalised immediately as Ritsu Doan wasted a big chance, before Wojciech Szczęsny denied a great headed effort from Matthias Ginter after a well worked corner.

Manuel Locatelli squandered Juve’s best chance when his shot went straight at goalkeeper Mark Flekken, before VAR was on hand to deny Dusan Vlahovic a long awaited goal.

A dangerous set piece led to a Gleison Bremer header being palmed onto the crossbar, only for Moise Kean to knock the rebound right to Vlahovic who fired it in from close range.

Replays ruled that Kean was offside, and the next 20 minutes passed almost without incident before the visitors laid siege to the Freiburg goal just before half-time.

A shot from Kean was blocked by Flekken’s legs and then Ginter cleared a follow up effort from Federico Gatti off the line by Ginter, only for the VAR to rule that Manuel Gulde’s raised arm had stopped it first.

The defender had already been booked, leaving referee Serdar Gözübüyük little option but to send him off for a second yellow card and award Juve a penalty.

Vlahovic stepped up to take it, undoubtedly aware of his lengthy goal drought which stretched all the way back to February 16 against Nantes. Indeed, the 23-year-old had gone six games without scoring, a streak which included him going five Serie A games without a goal for the first time in his career.

Adding to the drama was the fact Vlahovic had even missed a penalty against Sampdoria just four days earlier, prompting La Gazzetta dello Sport to give him a rating of just 5.5 out of 10 and label the striker “inaccurate but also unlucky.”

It was no surprise to see a somewhat nervous effort from Vlahovic then, but his shot had enough power to squeeze in despite Flekken’s leg almost saving it and Juve went into the break 2-0 ahead on aggregate.

Despite an advantage with the extra man, Freiburg did well after the break and continued to try and force their way back into the tie. Their resistance would come to an end when Max Allegri introduced Chiesa however, the winger making an immediate impact after being subbed on in the 70th minute.

A solo run produced a shot that was tipped onto the crossbar, before he eventually found the back of the net in injury time, knocking home a pass from Adrien Rabiot with consummate ease.

“I want to be here, I want to help the team and the club after what they’ve done for me,” Chiesa – who missed almost a year with a torn ACL – told Sky Italia shortly after the final whistle.

“My priority is to be available for the coach, he continued. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible in the last few games. I am working hard to be even more ready, but I still feel a little uncomfortable.”

Allegri admitted his own discomfort too, the Coach wholly displeased by the way his side allowed Freiburg to compete despite playing with 10 men for over an hour of the game.

“It was important to get through to the next round, we did well in the first half, but need to improve when we are leading and have an extra man,” the Juve boss told Sky Italia in his own post-match interview.

“We have to make better choices when we are on the ball. We lowered our intensity and concentration levels, making life difficult for ourselves. Whether they had 10 men or 11, it shouldn’t change anything.”

From a Juventus perspective, the important thing was to advance, and they did so with Friday’s draw for the quarter finals pitting them against Sporting before the winner advances to face the winner of Sevilla and Manchester United.

They have started to gather momentum, but with league and cup matches against Inter in the next week, followed by games with Lazio and Napoli either side of the Sporting clashes, the month ahead is going to certainly test the Old Lady’s newfound resolve.