Porto will face an uphill task when they travel to Turin to take on Juventus at the Juventus Stadium on Tuesday, March 14, in their second leg Champions League round of 16 encounter. Marko Pjaca and Dani Alves scored the goals for Juventus in Portugal as Porto will be looking to become the first team to progress in a Champions League tie after a 2-0 first-leg home defeat.
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The reigning Serie A champions are clear favourites to reach only their second quarter-final in four years when they welcome Porto and after a hard fought win over AC Milan in their previous match, they will be highly motivated to progress to the next round.
Juventus will welcome back Juan Cuadrado, who was suspended for the previous match, and Mario Mandzukic, who was ill. However, they might have to make do without their key centre-back Giorgio Chiellini, who is a slight doubt for this match. Stefano Sturaro will also miss this match as an abdomen injury keeps him out.
"Everyone is fine apart from Sturaro who will be back with the squad in the coming days; I think he'll be available for the match in Genoa against Sampdoria. We have these two games and then we have to try and manage our strength better, because we expended a lot on Friday. We're coming from an intense period and we can't afford to let our energy levels drop" Juventus manager Max Allegri was quoted as saying.
"Everybody is fine so tomorrow... ok, fine, I'll tell you the starters. Tomorrow Marchisio will play. In terms of the centre-backs I'll need to see, because Chiellini is back with the team, but I need to assess whether he can play tomorrow. So, I have two questions, one at right-back and one in the middle," he added.
Porto have been in really good form and have won nine Primeira Liga games in a row, a run only blotted by their first-leg loss to Juventus and they will have to play the match of their lives if they are to overturn this two goal deficit.
Porto will have to do without Alex Telles who received a red card in the first leg and is suspended for this match. Meanwhile, Jesus Corona and Hector Herrera were both fit enough to travel, having been doubts for the game.
Porto manager Nuno Espirito Santo said during his pre match press conference that they face an even more difficult task compared to what Barcelona had to do. But said that his team should be proud of their achievement no matter what and having come in good form, they can achieve the result they want.
"We are behind in the tie but there are no parallels to be drawn with what Barcelona achieved last week. We must consider this as a completely different, one-off game. Beginning in the play-offs in August, we've come a long way to get to this point and the team can be proud of what they have achieved so far" Santo said.
"We have a clear idea of how we want to approach the game; we want to attack, be effective at both ends of the field and give our creative players license to influence the proceedings as best they can. We have come here in good form, high spirits and we have the belief to get the result we want. Everyone knows how strong Juventus are on home soil. Their records speak for themselves but eventually someone will beat them here and it could be us that does it."
Where to watch
The second leg round of 16 match between Juventus and Porto is set to start at 7:45pm GMT (1:15am IST, 3:45pm EST)
TV and Live streaming information
India: TV: Ten 1. Live streaming: Ten Sports live.
UK: TV: BT Sports 3. Live streaming: BT Sport live.
USA: TV: Fox Sports 2. Live streaming: Fox Sports Go.
Italy: TV: PremiumSport HD, Premium Play
Portugal: TV: Sport TV1, RTP 1
Africa: TV: SuperSport 3. Live streaming:SuperSport live.
Middle East: TV:Bein Sports. Live Streaming:Bein Sports Connect.
