As the clock struck 22:00 GMT on December 13, the draw for the 1/8 finals of the 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League emerged, with Serie A giants Juventus set to welcome La Liga rivals Villarreal.
Brief history of the encounter:
Despite the fact that the two teams have not met in history, Juventus has the upper hand in historical duels with Spanish teams. Among them, two meetings against Valencia were victorious, with a 100% win rate; 11 meetings with Atletico Madrid, with 6 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses; 15 meetings with Barcelona, with 6 wins, 4 draws, and 5 losses, with a slight advantage; however, 21 meetings against Real Madrid, with only 8 wins, 2 draws, and 11 losses, with a win rate of only 38.1%. Villarreal has 9 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses in historical meetings with Serie A teams, but in the Champions League knockout rounds, it has only met with Inter, losing 1-2 on the road and winning 1-0 at home, ultimately advancing by virtue of the goal advantage on the road.
Match Watch:
Watch 1: Good signings for Juve in the doldrums
Juventus experienced a huge change this summer, Crow left the team caused the team's offensive strength decline, the defensive end also appeared obvious problems. In the first 17 rounds of this season's Serie A, Juve only accumulated 28 points and ranked sixth, hitting the lowest points in the same period since the 1998-99 season. In the UEFA Champions League group stage, Juve advanced to the first place in the group with 5 wins and 1 loss, and only got lucky with Chelsea's draw in the final round. The draw against Villarreal is undoubtedly a good one for Juve, who are at a low ebb.
Point 2: Strikerless Juve meets ironclad defense
Villarreal is not doing well in La Liga, but the defensive end of the game is outstanding, only 17 goals conceded in 17 rounds of games, ranked the fifth fewest goals conceded in La Liga. Juventus this season striker powerlessness problem is prominent, Morata form slump, Chiesa attack is not stable, Dybala is a stable scoring point, but the injury problem plagued Juve. Facing Villarreal's bloody defense, it will be interesting to see how Juve will break the enemy.
Watch 3: Emery and Allegri rematch
Villarreal boss Emery has led Sevilla twice against Juve in the 2015-2016 Champions League group stage, with a 1-0 home win and a 0-2 away loss. The two tactician masters are expected to line up against each other again this time.
