Juventus will be aiming to overturn a 1-0 deficit when they welcome Lyon to Turin for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 clash on Friday.
A first-half Lucas Tousart goal was enough for Lyon to triumph in the first leg before the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc across the sporting landscape.
Match preview
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For all their domestic success of the past few years, Juventus have failed to assert themselves as a dominant force on the international stage.
Maurizio Sarri's men are still searching for their first Champions League crown since the 1995-96 campaign, and the Old Lady have been knocked out at the quarter-final stage in the last two seasons.
Juventus recently celebrated their ninth-straight triumph in the Italian top division, but the Serie A giants endured a woeful end to the campaign as they suffered three defeats from their last four games, including a 3-1 home defeat to Roma on the final day.
However, with the title wrapped up once again, Sarri can now turn his attention to the visit of Lyon as the Serie A champions look to turn the tie around on their own turf.
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Meanwhile, Lyon recently made their return to competitive action as they locked horns with Paris Saint-Germain in the Coupe de la Ligue final, eventually losing to the Ligue 1 champions on penalties.
Following the curtailment of the 2019-20 French top flight, Lyon have enjoyed friendly victories over Nice, Celtic and Gent in July, but Rudi Garcia's side did suffer a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Rangers as well.
Les Gones are no stranger to the Champions League knockout stages, but the Ligue 1 outfit have not progressed further than the last-16 stage since the 2009-10 season, where they lost to eventual runners-up Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
Still searching for their first ever Champions League crown, Garcia must now navigate the difficult task of keeping Cristiano Ronaldo and co. at bay as Lyon look to hold on to their slender first-leg lead against the Italian giants.
The victors of this tie may not feel all that optimistic about their chances of going the distance in this season's tournament, however, with a quarter-final clash with Real Madrid or Manchester City to come for Juve or Lyon.
Juventus Champions League form: WWWWWL
Juventus form (all competitions): DWLWLL
Lyon Champions League form: WLWLDW
Lyon form (all competitions): WWWLLL
Team News
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Juventus forward Paulo Dybala, who was recently voted Serie A's Most Valuable Player for the 2019-20 season, will be hopeful of shaking off a thigh complaint in time to lead the line for the Old Lady.
Sarri will still be without the services of Mattia De Sciglio, and Douglas Costa has also been ruled out through the thigh injury he picked up against Udinese.
Sarri fielded a heavily-weakened team for the final-day showdown with Roma but will revert back to full-strength here, with Matthijs de Ligt in line to return to the defence despite struggling with a shoulder problem.
As for Lyon, left-back Youssouf Kone remains on the treatment table, while first-leg hero Tousart has now joined up with his teammates at Hertha Berlin.
Marcelo and Kenny Tete are both doubts for Garcia's men, but Memphis Depay is expected feature after missing the first leg through injury, meaning that Karl Toko Ekambi could drop down to the bench.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, Bonucci, De Ligt, Sandro; Bentancur, Pjanic, Rabiot; Bernardeschi, Dybala, Ronaldo
Lyon possible starting lineup:
Lopes; Dubois, Denayer, Andersen, Marcal; Aouar, Mendes; Cornet, Reine-Adelaide, Depay; Dembele
We say: Juventus 3-0 Lyon
Neither Juventus nor Lyon finished their domestic campaigns as strongly as they would have hoped, but Juventus have proved themselves as a force to be reckoned with at home and could be boosted by the potential return of Dybala, so we are backing the Old Lady to march to victory in convincing fashion and book their spot in the quarter-finals.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Juventus win with a probability of 70.51%. A draw had a probability of 15.7% and a win for Lyon had a probability of 13.76%.
The most likely scoreline for a Juventus win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.75%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-1 (8.05%) and 2-0 (7.43%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (6.34%), while for a Lyon win it was 1-2 (3.73%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with an 8.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 2-1 win for Juventus in this match.
