Nantes vs Juventus

Stade de la Beaujoire is the venue as Nantes and Juventus go head-to-head in the return leg of their closely-contested Europa League knockout playoff tie.

Despite falling behind only 13 minutes into their first-leg trip to Turin, Nantes replied through talismanic playmaker Ludovic Blas in the second half to hold Juventus to a 1-1 draw. With a place in the Europa League last-16 open for the taking, ‘Les Canaris’ will rely on their impressive record of three clean sheets from four home matches in 2023 to get them over the line. Worryingly for manager Antoine Kombouare, his men have been thoroughly inconsistent in February, racking up just two wins from six competitive outings (D2, L2 – 90mins only). But vengeance could serve as a powerful motive, with the French outfit looking to avenge a 4-3 aggregate loss in the 1995/96 Champions League semi-finals against Juventus that denied them a maiden foray into the competition’s grand final.

On the other hand, Juventus bounced back from the underwhelming first-leg draw with a comfortable 2-0 away win at Spezia last weekend. However, following January’s point deduction, the record-time Italian champions are well off the Serie A top-four pace, highlighting the significance of going the distance in the Europa League. Winning the competition for the first time since 1992/93 could be the only legit way for ‘I Bianconeri’ to secure Champions League football for next season. Having scored on all 11 previous Europa League travels (W6, D3, L2), Massimiliano Allegri’s charges should be confident about living up to their tag as pre-match favorites. Adding to their confidence, Juventus boast a solid all-time European record against Ligue 1 sides (W19, D8, L8), including a decent 43% win ratio in away games this century (W3, D1, L3).