16 March 2023
Juventus step out at the Europa-Park Stadion at 18:45 CET today for the second leg of the Europa League round of 16.
The Bianconeri are called on to defend their 1-0 advantage from seven days ago in what is not only Freiburg's first home match in European competition against Juventus but against an Italian team in general.
GERMAN JOY | Juventus have never been eliminated by a German side from either the UEFA Cup or Europa League in nine two-legged ties, the last of which dated back to the 1994/95 UEFA Cup semi-final v Borussia Dortmund, and have lost just one of their last nine European ties with German sides (W5, D3).
FIRST FOOT FORWARD | Juve have progressed in each of the last nine European cup knockout stages in which they won the first leg – last eliminated after a first-match success in 2009/10 by Fulham (3-1 first leg win at home, 1-4 away second leg defeat).
STAND OUT | Despite only making his Europa League debut this term on 16 February, Ángel Di María with four goals trails only Victor Boniface and Marcus Rashford (five each) in the competition this season. What's more, El Fideo has attmepted the most shots (12) and no one has completed more dribbles (15).
MIND THE GAP | Vincenzo Grifo was responsible for the only shot Freiburg attempted in the first leg, against 20 attempted by Juventus – the difference of 19 shots between the sides was Juve's best in a European match since playing Lokomotiv Moscow in October 2019 (+23 in that case).
ABOUT TURN | Freiburg have never lost a knockout second leg in major European competitions (W2 D2) but the Germans have only managed to overturn a first leg defeat once, against St. Gallen in the second round of the 2001/02 UEFA Cup (0-1 first leg, 4-1 second leg).
