Tottenham hold slender edge as Juventus come to town
Monday, February 26, 2018
Article summary
A fine first-leg fightback has given Tottenham two valuable away goals as they welcome Juventus to Wembley, although with the scores level at 2-2 the tie remains finely poised.
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![Tottenham's Harry Kane (left) and Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus after the first leg Tottenham's Harry Kane (left) and Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus after the first leg](https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/0242-0e987051bd66-f7b4626779ff-1000/format/wide1/tottenham_s_harry_kane_left_and_giorgio_chiellini_of_juventus_after_the_first_leg.jpeg?imwidth=158)
Article body
Tottenham Hotspur FC staged a fine fightback to earn a first-leg draw at Juventus, and will look to finish the job as the teams reconvene at Wembley.
• Spurs' prospects looked bleak when the Italian champions, through Gonzalo Higuaín, raced into a 2-0 lead within nine minutes at the Juventus Stadium. Harry Kane halved the deficit, however, and after Higuaín had smashed a penalty against the crossbar on the stroke of half-time, Christian Eriksen's second-half free-kick ensured the sides would travel to London level at 2-2 – although with the English club having two potentially vital away goals.
• Tottenham have by far the less experience of the two – this is just their second last-16 tie – but will not want for confidence having finished top of a section including holders Real Madrid CF and collected 16 points, more than any other team in this season's competition, including wins in all three home matches.
• Juventus finished second behind FC Barcelona in Group D but are in the round of 16 for the ninth time and have plenty of recent knockout pedigree, having reached the final in 2015 and 2017.
Match background
Tottenham
• Having struggled at Wembley in Europe last season, Tottenham won all three matches at the stadium in Group H this time round, prevailing 3-1 against both Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid before a 3-0 defeat of APOEL FC on matchday six.
• Before beating Dortmund, Tottenham had won just one of their previous five European home fixtures. They took only three points from their three home group games in 2016/17, losing to AS Monaco FC (1-2) and Bayer 04 Leverkusen (0-1) before a 3-1 victory over PFC CSKA Moskva on matchday six.
• Tottenham are unbeaten in their seven home matches against Italian opponents (W4 D3). Overall, their 16 fixtures against Italian teams have ended W5 D7 L4.
• They boast a strong record in two-legged ties against Italian opponents: W4 L1. The sole defeat was a 3-1 aggregate reverse against ACF Fiorentina in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League round of 16 (1-1 home, 0-2 away); they beat the Viola in their most recent game against Italian opposition, winning 3-0 at home at the same stage of the 2015/16 competition to complete a 4-1 aggregate success; Erik Lamela scored the second goal.
• Tottenham have won all six of the UEFA competition ties in which they drew the away first leg, most recently that 2016 tie with Fiorentina (1-1 away, 3-0 home). They beat RSC Anderlecht on penalties in the 1984 UEFA Cup final after drawing 1-1 both away and in London.
• Spurs have never recorded a 2-2 draw in an away first leg before.
• Tottenham's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
1-4 v FC Basel 1893, 2012/13 UEFA Europa League quarter-final
5-6 v PSV Eindhoven, 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16
4-3 v RSC Anderlecht, 1983/84 UEFA Cup final
Juventus
• The Italian side's record in the round of 16 is W5 L3. Twelve months ago they beat FC Porto 3-0 on aggregate at this stage (2-0 away, 1-0 home) having lost to FC Bayern München at the same stage in 2015/16.
• Juve opened this season with a 3-0 loss at Barcelona but are unbeaten in their last six games (W3 D3), qualifying for the knockout stages thanks to a 2-0 win at Olympiacos FC on matchday six.
• Juve collected four points on their travels in this season's group stage to finish second behind Barcelona in Group D, picking up a 1-1 draw at Sporting in between the defeat in Spain and win in Greece.
• The 0-0 draw at Barcelona in last season's quarter-final second leg was the only one of Juve's six away matches in 2016/17 that they failed to win, with five clean sheets and just one goal conceded to 12 scored. Defeat at the Camp Nou on matchday one ended a six-game unbeaten away run in Europe.
• Juve are on a seven-match (W3 D4) unbeaten run against Premier League clubs, winning their last three fixtures before this tie – most recently a 1-0 home defeat of Manchester City FC in the 2015/16 group stage.
• The Bianconeri's record away to English clubs is W3 D6 L12. Their most recent trip brought a 2-1 win at City in September 2015, extending their unbeaten away run against Premier League sides to three matches (W1 D2); Juve had lost their previous seven games in England.
• Juve's record in two-legged knockout ties against English clubs is W5 L8. They have lost the last five ties, most recently to Fulham FC in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 16 (3-1 home, 1-4 away).
• Juve have won all but two of the eight UEFA competition ties in which they drew the home first leg. The sole exceptions are the first, against Wolverhampton Wanderers FC in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup quarter-finals when a 1-1 home draw preceded a 2-1 away loss, and the most recent, against Bayern in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League round of 16.
• Then, as now, Juve were held 2-2 in the Turin first leg; Bayern were 4-2 winners after extra time in the Munich return. Juventus had won both their previous UEFA competition ties where the home first leg finished 2-2; against Borussia Dortmund in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup semi-finals (2-1 away) and Djurgårdens IF in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round (4-1 away).
• The Italian team's shoot-out record is W3 L3:
2-3 v AC Milan, 2002/03 UEFA Champions League final
4-2 v AFC Ajax, 1995/96 UEFA Champions League final
1-3 v Real Madrid CF, 1986/87 European Cup second round
4-2 v Argentinos Juniors, 1985 European/South American Cup final
1-4 v Widzew Łódź, 1980/81 UEFA Cup second round
3-0 v Ajax, 1977/78 European Cup quarter-final
Coach and player links
• Fernando Llorente played for Juventus between 2013 and 2015, scoring 27 goals in 92 games in all competitions and winning the Scudetto twice and the Coppa Italia once.
• Llorente scored Sevilla's winner against Juve on matchday six in 2015/16, condemning the Bianconeri to second place in the group.
• Juan Cuadrado played 13 Premier League games for Chelsea in 2015.
• Wojciech Szczęsny made 132 league appearances for Arsenal between 2010 and 2015. He faced Spurs eight times (W4 D2 L2).
• Lamela scored 19 goals in 62 Serie A matches for AS Roma between 2011 and 2013, with the record W1 D1 L2 against Juve. He was sent off in a Coppa Italia 3-0 defeat in 2012.
• Lamela was in CA River Plate's youth system when Gonzalo Higuaín was playing for the Argentinian giants between 2005 and 2006.
• Toby Alderweireld scored in AFC Ajax's 2-0 win at Massimiliano Allegri's AC Milan in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Allegri was the coach of the Milan side beaten 1-0 on aggregate by Tottenham in the 2010/11 round of 16, the English club's sole previous appearance in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds.
• Harry Kane and Eric Dier both scored as England defeated 3-2 a Germany side including Sami Khedira in a March 2016 friendly.
• Italy, featuring Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini, beat Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen's Belgium 2-0 in the UEFA Euro 2016 group stage. Vertonghen had scored past Buffon as Belgium defeated the Azzurri 3-1 in a November 2015 friendly.
• Have played together:
Hugo Lloris & Miralem Pjanić (Olympique Lyonnais, 2008–11)
Serge Aurier & Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain, 2014–17)
• International team-mates:
Hugo Lloris, Moussa Sisssoko & Blaise Matuidi (France)
Davinson Sánchez & Juan Cuadrado (Colombia)
Erik Lamela & Gonzalo Higuaín, Paulo Dybala (Argentina)
Match facts
Tottenham
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Erik Lamela, Lucas Moura
Out: Juan Foyth, Georges-Kévin N'Koudou
• Serge Aurier serves a one-match ban in this second leg.
• Tottenham have lost one of their last 22 games in all competitions, going down 4-1 at Manchester City FC on 16 December. They have won 14 matches in that sequence.
• Mauricio Pochettino's side are unbeaten in 15 home matches (W13 D2) in all competitions, since a 3-2 loss to West Ham United FC in the English League Cup on 25 October. They have won their last seven fixtures at Wembley.
• Nine of the 24 Premier League goals Tottenham have conceded this season have come in the final 15 minutes.
• Until drawing a blank in Saturday's 2-0 defeat of Huddesfield Town AFC, Harry Kane had scored in each of his last five games in all competitions. He has 11 goals in his last 11 appearances.
• Heung-Min Son scored both goals against Huddersfield, his first league goals since 13 January.
• Spurs have kept four clean sheets in their last five Premier League matches.
• Tottenham reached the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 6-1 win against League One Rochdale FC in a fifth-round replay at Wembley on 28 February. Fernando Llorente scored a hat-trick – his first since January 2012 - with Son (2) on target for the first time in ten games and Kyle Walker-Peters scoring his first senior goal.
• Toby Alderweireld made his first appearance since 1 November in the FA Cup fourth-round replay against Newport County AFC on 7 February after a hamstring injury; he featured in the first game at Rochdale 11 days later but has not played since.
• Jan Vertonghen had not played since the first leg on 13 February due to an ankle injury until Saturday, when he started the 2-0 defeat of Huddersfield.
• On 28 November Erik Lamela made his first appearance since 25 October 2016 after a long-term hip injury. The Argentinian has since made 15 Premier League appearances, all bar three as a substitute, and has completed 90 minutes three times in the FA Cup; he also played 88 minutes of the first leg at Juventus.
Juventus
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Stephan Lichtsteiner
Out: Benedikt Höwedes
• Miralem Pjanić, Mehdi Benatia and Rodrigo Bentancur will incur a suspension with their next bookings.
• The first-leg draw against Tottenham ended Juve's 11-game winning run in all competitions – they conceded only one goal in that run.
• Since drawing with Spurs, Juve have won all three games 1-0, Paulo Dybala scoring in added time at Lazio on Saturday.
• Aside from the Tottenham game, the Bianconeri have conceded just one goal in their last 19 games in all competitions.
• Juve's sequence includes ten successive Serie A victories, during which time they have scored 22 goals and conceded only one.
• Gonzalo Higuaín (ankle) and Federico Bernardeschi (knee) suffered injuries in the 1-0 derby win against Torino FC on 18 February.
• Higuaín had eight goals in six matches before his injury.
• Juve's Serie A game against Atalanta BC on 25 February was postponed due to snow and rescheduled for 14 March.
• Gianluigi Buffon made his 500th league appearance for Juventus against Fiorentina on 9 February.
• Sami Khedira has scored six goals this season in Serie A – already his best total in Turin. Alex Sandro has three, equalling his most prolific season for the club set last year.
• Juve reached a fourth successive Coppa Italia final on 28 February, beating Atalanta 1-0 in the semi-final second leg to complete a 2-0 aggregate victory with Dybala (out since 4 January, thigh) and Blaise Matuidi (4 February, thigh) both returning from injury.
• Juventus will play Milan in the final at Rome's Stadio Olimpico on 9 May.
• Juan Cuadrado has not played since 23 December; he underwent groin surgery on 30 January.
• Benedikt Höwedes has been sidelined with a serious thigh injury since November and has been removed from Juve's UEFA Champions League squad.
• Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini were both voted into the UEFA.com Fans' Team of the Year 2017.