5 reasons Juventus could struggle against Lyon | UEFA Champions League 2019-20

Juventus will be looking to overturn a 1 goal deficit as they host Olympique Lyon at the Allianz Stadium tonight. Juventus put on a dismal performance when the teams met for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie and suffered a 1-0 defeat.

The Bianconeri have suffered from a dip in form of late and Lyon will be looking to capitalize and hold them at bay for 90 minutes. On the domestic front, Sarri's men clinched their 9th consecutive Scudetto while Lyon failed to qualify for the Ligue 1 after the season was cut short due to the Covid pandemic.

Juventus are not going to have it easy in the second leg and let's take a look at 5 reasons why they could struggle.

Comeback goals ⚽💪 ne abbiamo? #JuveOL#JuveUCL pic.twitter.com/vIPpemWFsB
— JuventusFC (#Stron9er 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆) (@juventusfc) August 7, 2020

5 reasons Juventus could struggle against Lyon

#5 Lyon are less fatigued

Olympique Lyon v Juventus - UEFA Champions League Round of 16: First Leg

Lyon have played a total of 4 matches in the past month with their last game coming against Paris Saint-Germain in the Coupe de la Ligue final last Saturday. In the same time frame, Juventus have played 8 games and they lost their latest one against Roma by 3 goals to 1 on Sunday.

As such, Juventus will have to do with tired legs while Lyon players should be feeling well rested and fresh. That does not bode well for the Bianconeri as they will have to work incredibly hard to overturn the deficit.

#4 Sarri's philosophy is yet to take off at Juventus

Maurizio Sarri was brought in a bid to move towards a more expansive, possession-based attacking brand of football. Detractors were quick to judge him saying that he is not a good cultural fit.

However, such a transformation was always going to be difficult for Juventus. They have an ageing squad and Sarri's system works best when players can cover each and every blade of grass. He's also had to play to the strengths of the squad he inherited.

As a result, it is a Sarri side that exhibits a lot of the shortcomings of his former teams without much of their merits. As such, Juventus are currently struggling as a side that's been caught shackled in transformation.

🗣 — Maurizio Sarri: “Ronaldo is instinctive and doesn’t fit entirely into certain tactical roles, which is also his strength, but it means the other striker has to adapt to Cristiano’s movements. We did it well at times this evening too, but didn’t finish the moves.” ⚫ #JUVE
— Forza Juventus (@ForzaJuveEN) July 29, 2020

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