2023-04-27 23:00:40
Two clubs that left the UEFA Champions League at the end of the group stage meet for a place in the UEFA Europa League final.
The winners of this game will face either Roma or Leverkusen in the final in Budapest on May 31.
Juventus are trying to become the first team to knock out Sevilla in the semi-finals of European competition.
After eliminating Nantes in the play-offs (1-1 at home, 3-0 away), Massimiliano Allegri’s team eliminated Friborg in the round of 16 (1-0 at home, 2-0 away) and Sporting CP in the quarter-finals (1-0 home, 1-1 away) to reach the last four in a major UEFA competition for the 22nd time and the first time in six years.
In November, Sevilla joined the UEFA Europa League for the second consecutive season. The Andalusian team beat PSV Eindhoven (3-0 home, 0-2 away) and Fenerbahçe (2-0 home, 0-1 away) in their first two matches of the phase knockout stage under former coach Jorge Sampaoli, before eliminating Manchester United in the quarter-finals (2-2 away, 3-0 at home) under new coach José Luis Mendilibar.
This is Sevilla’s seventh appearance in a UEFA semi-final, the previous six having all been won, as well as the final.
Previous meetings
Juventus and Sevilla have already been linked in UEFA competition twice – in back-to-back UEFA Champions League group campaigns.
In 2015/16, Allegri’s Juve beat Unai Emery’s Sevilla 2-0 in Turin and were already assured of qualification for the knockout stage. They lost the second leg of matchday six 1-0 at Sevilla. This result allowed the Spanish club to win the UEFA Europa League.
In 2016/17, the two teams met in the Champions League groups. Juventus taking top spot with 14 points, three ahead of Sevilla, following winning the matchday five encounter 3-1 in southern Spain following a goalless draw in northern Italy during the first day.
Juve’s historic record once morest Spanish clubs is 25 wins, 17 draws and 26 losses (17, 9, 5 at home) but Juve remain on two defeats, 0-2 once morest Barcelona in the group stage of the Champions League. UEFA Champions League 2020/21 and 0-3 once morest Villarreal in the round of 16 of the same competition in 2021/22.
Bianconeri record in UEFA home and away matches once morest Spaniards, 10 qualifications, 8 eliminations.
Sevilla’s last encounter with an Italian opponent was the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League final, when Julen Lopetegui’s side beat Inter Milan 3-2 in Cologne. It was his 14th meeting once morest the Italians for a record of 7 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses (2, 1, 3 0 away).
About the teams
Juventus
Three-time UEFA Cup winners, in 1977, 1990 and 1993, the Bianconeri extended their fourth UEFA Europa League campaign to the last four for the second time with successes once morest Nantes, Freiburg and Sporting, with Adrien Rabiot having scored the decisive goal in the last game in Lisbon.
Juventus lost their only other game at this stage, once morest Benfica in 2013/14 (1-2 away, 0-0 at home), missing out on a mouth-watering final at home. They have since won their two Champions League semi-final encounters, once morest holders Real Madrid in 2014/15 (2-1 at home, 1-1 away) and once morest Monaco in 2016/17 (2-0 away, 2-1 at home).
Juve have never been beaten at home in the UEFA Europa League (7 wins 7 draws). Since moving to the Juventus Stadium in 2011, the Turin side have played 56 European matches there, winning 35 and losing 8, with 7 of those defeats coming in their last 24 encounters, including three of the last seven.
Seville
Sevilla finished fourth in the Spanish La Liga for the third consecutive season in 2021/22. This season was marked by struggles in the UEFA Champions League, with coach Lopetegui failing to survive the group stage and former coach Sampaoli returning to the club.
Sevilla’s success once morest PSV, Fenerbahçe and Manchester United earned them a record fifth appearance in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals.
Sevilla’s away record in the UEFA Europa League knockout stage, including matches on neutral ground, is 13 wins, 7 draws and 8 losses, but the club had lost four matches in a row, all without scoring, before two late own goals earned them a 2-2 last-round draw at Old Trafford, which nonetheless extended their run of European away matches without victory at 12 (6 draws, 6 defeats).
We know each other…
The two Juventus players, Ángel Di María and Leandro Paredes, as well as the Sevilla FC trio, Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuña and Alejandro Gómez, were all part of the Argentina team that won the FIFA World Cup. FIFA 2022 in Qatar, with Montiel scoring the decisive penalty in the final penalty shootout once morest a France side which featured Rabiot, following Di María gave the South American side a 2-0 lead. Lamela and Lucas Ocampos (Sevilla FC) are also Argentinian internationals.
Bianconeri trio Bremer, Danilo and Alex Sandro were in Brazil’s squad for the 2022 World Cup, as were Alex Telles (Sevilla), while Dušan Vlahović, Filip Kostić (both from Juventus) and Nemanja Gudelj (Sevilla) played for Serbia in Qatar, with Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrović being an unused member of the squad.
Di María played in Spain for Real Madrid from 2010 to 2014, winning six trophies with the club, including the 2013/14 Champions League. He scored in two La Liga games for Madrid once morest Sevilla, including the winning goal in his first outing once morest them (1-0) on December 19, 2010.
Danilo is also a former Real Madrid player (2015-17), who won the UEFA Champions League in his two seasons and La Liga in his second before leaving for Manchester City.
Five members of the Sevilla squad have played in Italy: Gómez (Catania 2010-13, Atalanta 2014-21), Lamela (Roma 2011-13), Suso (AC Milan 2015-20, loan Genoa 2016), Telles (loan Inter 2015/16) and Ocampos (Genoa loan 2016/17, AC Milan loan 2017).
have played together
Paul Pogba and Telles (Manchester United 2020-22).
Mattia De Sciglio, Manuel Locatelli and Ocampos (Milan 2017)
De Sciglio and Suso (Milan 2015-17)
Locatelli and Suso (Milan 2015-18)
Leonardo Bonucci and Suso (Milan 2017/18)
Mattia Perin et Ocampos (Genoa 2016/17)
Perin et Suso (Genoa 2016)
Arkadiusz Milik et Gudelj (Ajax 2015/16)
Paredes, Di Maria and Tanguy Nianzou (Paris Saint-Germain 2019/20)
Alex Sandro, Danilo and Fernando (Porto 2012-14)
Alex Sandro, Danilo and Óliver Torres (Porto 2014/15)
Sevilla are the only former UEFA Europa League winners in contention for the semi-finals, although Juventus are one of two other participating sides, along with Bayer Leverkusen, to have lifted the UEFA Cup.
The last Sevilla player to score an away goal for the club in the UEFA Europa League is Youssef En-Nesyri, in a 1-1 draw at CFR Cluj in the 2019/20 Round of 32 first leg. The Moroccan striker also scored two of Sevilla’s three goals last time out in the quarter-final second leg once morest Manchester United.
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