Champions League: Napoli v Sporting, Juventus at Villarreal, Tudor and Conte seek first win | OneFootball

The Bianconeri are on the road in Spain, the Azzurri at Maradona against the Portuguese: the three points become fundamental to give momentum to the League Phase.

Champions League, decisive evening: Napoli against Sporting and Juventus at Villarreal. Tudor and Conte seek their first success

The Champions League is heating up and the points are starting to weigh more than ever. Igor Tudor and Antonio Conte know this well: tonight Juventus and Napoli face two crucial challenges against Villarreal and Sporting Lisbon with the goal of achieving their first European victory of the season.

As Conte himself emphasized: "We need the same intensity seen in Manchester, but this time we have to be more concrete in the offensive phase".

Tudor, on the other hand, called his team to maximum attention: "Against Dortmund we paid for a couple of mistakes, in the Champions you can't afford that. I want concentration for 90 minutes".

Villarreal-Juventus: tricky away game in Spain

Juventus comes to this challenge after the comeback in the recovery against Borussia Dortmund, but Villarreal, third in La Liga, is anything but a simple opponent. The Spaniards lost their European debut due to a goalkeeper's own goal, but they remain a solid and dangerous team.

Tudor will confirm Di Gregorio in goal and the three-man defense formed by Kalulu, Gatti and Kelly (Bremer is out). On the wings, there will be room for Joao Mario and Cambiaso, while in the middle there will be Locatelli accompanied by one of Koopmeiners and McKennie.

In attack, confirmation for Yildiz and Conceiçao in the three-quarters, behind Jonathan David, favored over Vlahovic to start. A choice that confirms Tudor's trust in the Canadian, already protagonist of great European nights with Lille.

Juve will also have to manage the energies in view of the Scudetto challenge against Milan, the leader, scheduled for the next round of the championship.

Napoli-Sporting: Maradona awaits the reaction

After the defeat with Manchester City, Napoli seeks redemption at Diego Armando Maradona against Sporting Lisbon, second in the Portuguese Liga and coming from the success against Kairat.

Conte will have to deal with the heavy absence of Di Lorenzo, disqualified after the expulsion suffered in Manchester, an episode that paved the way for the 2-0 of the English.

The probable lineup includes Milinkovic-Savic in goal, a four-man defensive line with Spinazzola, Beukema, Juan Jesus and Gutierrez. In midfield, Lobotka confirmed in front of the defense, supported by Anguissa, De Bruyne, McTominay and Politano, all in support of the center forward Hojlund.

The Azzurri coach relies on the solidity shown even in numerical inferiority in Manchester: "With that compactness and that character, we can beat Sporting. Maradona will have to push us towards the first victory".

Objective: three points to relaunch the European season

Juventus and Napoli arrive at this second day with the same goal: to win three points to consolidate their European ambitions and face the next commitments with more confidence.

The road is still long, but tonight's matches against Villarreal and Sporting can already mark a key passage in the path of the two Italian teams in the Champions League.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.