With seven games left of the Serie A season Juventus needs to step up to get into the Champions League the upcoming season. The Giant club from Turin in the north of Italy are hosting Lecce, who find themselves in the relegation zone. We’ve got two motivated sides battling it out at Allianz Arena.
Juventus are currently at the 5th position in the Serie A standings. Juve have collected 56 points at this point of the season and are one spot behind Bologna. Bologna have one more point than Juventus and sits at the 4th and last CL spot right now. Juventus faced Roma away in their previous Serie A game and the match ended in a one one draw. The new captain of the team Locatelli gave Juve the lead but they were not capable of holding on to it. Before the draw at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Juventus had won three out of their four prior games.
The former Juventus player from Croatia, Igor Tudor is the new manager of Juventus. Tudor took over the reins after Thiago Motta got fired recently. Tudor played for the club from 1998 to 2005 and was asiolid defender and a holding midfielder. It remains to be seen if he is the long term solution for the job. Tudor’s experience as a head coach is minimal.
The Serbian striker from the city of Belgrade has scored most goals for Juve this Season. Vlaovic has scored nine goals. The American Timothy Weah and Kenan Yildiz from Turkey, have scored five goals each. Juvenrtus has a bunch of sidelined players. Mbangula, Gatti, Perin, Cabal, Bremer and Milik are all out.
US Lecce got away with a draw in their prior game against Venezia at home. The defender Federico Baschirotto scored the equaliser for Lecce. They were on a five game losing streak before the draw. Lecce has not won a Serie A game since they defeated Parma away on january 31st. They currently find themselves just above the relegation zone at the 17th spot with 26 points. Two points ahead of Empoli at the 18th position in the relegation zone.
The objective of the season is of course not to drop into the Serie B next season. Historically Lecce has had a rough time with the giants Juventus. The Montenegrin striker Nikola Krstovic is the leading goalscorer for Lecce with 10 goals to his name. The manager, Marco Giampaolo, will have to do without Marchwinski. The Pole is the only sidelined player for Lecce. Lecce and Juve drew, one one, when they faced each other in December.
PROBABLE LINEUPS:
Juventus: Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Veiga, Kelly; Cambiaso, Locatelli, Thuram, McKennie; Gonzalez, Yildiz; Vlahovic
Lecce: Falcone; Guilbert, Gaspar, Baschirotto, Gallo; Coulibaly, Ramadani; Pierotti, Helgason, Morente; Krstovic
