Juventus vs Zürich match facts

After collecting just two points from their last three matches in UEFA Women's Champions League Group C, Juventus will be banking on completing the double over FC Zürich to maintain their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals. The Swiss champions have lost all four of their group matches and can no longer qualify.

In the teams' first meeting, on Matchday 1, the Italian champions left it late to break the deadlock in Schaffhausen, goals from Valentina Cernoia and substitute Barbara Bonansea securing a 2-0 victory.

Juventus, in their first season under new head coach Joe Montemurro, clinched their fifth Serie A title in a row last term, but were eliminated in the last eight of the UEFA Women's Champions League by eventual winners Lyon, losing 4-3 on aggregate despite a 2-1 comeback victory in the Turin first leg. They had reached the quarter-finals after finishing as runners-up in Group A behind Wolfsburg, pipping 2020/21 finalists Chelsea to second place via a three-way tie-break.

The Turin outfit qualified for this year's group stage with a 3-1 aggregate win against Danish champions HB Køge (1-1 a, 2-0 h), having beaten Luxembourg's Racing Union 4-0 and Israel's Qiryat Gat 3-1 in round 1.

Juve kicked off this season's group campaign with that win in Switzerland, then drew 1-1 at home in Turin against both Lyon and Arsenal before losing 1-0 to the English side in London on Matchday 4. A victory against Zürich will keep them in the hunt for a quarter-final berth ahead of their final fixture away to Lyon. Juventus will be unable to finish in the top two if they do not beat Zürich and Lyon win.

Zürich, who won their 23rd Swiss league title last season, are making their debut in the UEFA Women's Champions League group stage and have still never gone further than the last 16 of the competition in 14 attempts. Eliminated at the first qualifying stage last season, they successfully negotiated that hurdle this time round, beating Faroese side KÍ (6-0) and Apollon of Cyprus (1-0) before a 10-0 aggregate round 2 success against SFK 2000 Sarajevo of Bosnia and Herzegovina (7-0 a, 3-0 h).

The Swiss champions' first four Group C games all ended in defeat. After losing at home to Juventus, they went down 3-1 away to Arsenal before succumbing twice without scoring to Lyon (0-3 h, 0-4 a) – results that extinguished their hopes of further progress.

Juventus have won their previous three UEFA Women's Champions League matches against Swiss opposition without conceding a goal, having also beaten Servette 3-0 away and 4-0 at home in last season's group stage. Zürich, conversely, have lost all of their four previous European matches against Italian clubs.

Players to watch

Julia Grosso

Canadian international Grosso joined Juventus in December 2021 from her local club in British Columbia, TSS FC Rovers.

She has been involved in all of Juve's European fixtures since her arrival in Turin, starting all four matches in UEFA Women's Champions League Group C.

The left-footed midfielder scored her first goal for Juventus in a 1-1 Serie A draw at home to Como on 27 November.

Born in Vancouver, the 22-year-old played in the US college system for the Texas Longhorns and first represented Canada at Under-15 level in 2014.

Grosso now has 46 senior international caps for Canada, scoring three goals, all in July this year. She represented her country at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics, where she scored the winning penalty in the final shoot-out against Sweden as Canada claimed their first gold medal in women's football.

Julia Stierli

One of the most experienced players in the Zürich squad, Stierli has represented the club in 35 UEFA Women's Champions League matches, scoring five goals.

The 25-year-old central defender has played every minute of Zürich's last 12 European games, including all eight this season.

She made her UEFA Women's Champions League debut in August 2014, shortly after joining Zürich from Aarau, in a 1-1 draw against Belarusian club Minsk and scored her first European goal five days later in a 4-0 win against Turkish side Konak Belediyespor.

She has won five Swiss league and cup doubles with Zürich, the latest in 2021/22.

A full Switzerland international since 2017, Stierli was included in her country's UEFA Women's EURO 2022 squad, though she made just one substitute appearance in England.

Key facts

Juve's defeat at Arsenal was only the third in their last 20 European matches (W12 D5) and ended a seven-match unbeaten run (W3 D4).

It was also just the second time in 20 UEFA Women's Champions League fixtures that the Turin side had failed to score.

Juventus have won only one of their five home games in the group stage (D3 L1) – against Swiss club Servette FCCF.

Outside of the qualifying phase Zürich have lost their last ten UEFA Women's Champions League matches, including five away from home in which they have scored just one goal.