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Villarreal will host Juventus at the Estadio de la Ceramica in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 fixtures. The game is scheduled for 01:30 IST on the 23rd of February, 2022.
The Yellow Submarine, as Villarreal are fondly called, face an uphill task in the form of a rejuvenated Juventus side who are racking up good results in European competition this season. The game will be decided on two legs, and now that UEFA has scrapped the away goal rule, there are no more advantages for away sides to enjoy.
Here is the latest on the form and team news for Villarreal and Juventus:
Unai Emery’s side are having a good season by their standards. They are 7th in the league, 2 points away from the final European spot, and are in the Champions League Round of 16. They qualified in 2nd place from their group, 1 point behind group winners Manchester United. In 6 Champions League matches this season, they have won 3, drawn 1, and lost 2, scoring 12 goals and conceding 9.
Villarreal has won 9, drawn 9, and lost 6 out of 24 matches played thus far, scoring 38 goals and conceding 23. They have 2 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss in their last 5 games and have one more fixture before their Champions League showdown at home to Juventus.
Arnaut Danjuma leads the scoreboard for the Spanish side in the Champions League with 4 goals and 1 assist. For their team news, Villarreal have several absentees against the Juve game. Gerard Moreno, Ruben Pena, Francis Coquelin, and Etienne Capoue are injured and will likely miss the game.
Juventus continued their positive start to the second half of the season, with 2 wins and 3 draws across their last 5 league games. They are 4th in the Serie A standings, with 13 wins, 8 draws, and 5 losses, scoring 38 times and conceding 23 goals.
In Europe, the Old Lady, as they are widely known, have much better stats. They won their group ahead of defending champions Chelsea, winning 5 and losing 1 of their 6 games in the group stage. They scored 10 goals and conceded 6, most of which came in their 4-0 loss to Chelsea. Paulo Dybala is Juve’s leading goalscorer with 3 goals and 1 assist.
For their team news, Juventus will be without Federico Chiesa, Federico Bernadeschi, Giorgio Chiellini, and Leonardo Bonucci, who are injured, and Brazilian defender Danilo who is unavailable.
It’s a tight call, but sportsbooks have named Villareal favorites to win this fixture. On the Melbet sportsbook, Villareal to win is placed at 2.605 odds, a draw is at 3.38 odds, and a win for Juventus is placed at 2.97 odds.
The Paripesa sportsbook places Villareal to win at 2.605 odds, a draw at 3.38 odds, and a Juventus victory at 2.978 odds. On the Sportsbet.io sportsbook, a win for Villarreal and Juventus is at 2.64 and 2.74 odds, respectively, while a draw is placed at 3.25 odds.
On paper, it isn’t easy to pick the underdogs going into this fixture. Juventus may have had their ups and downs this season, but they have more Champions League experience than Villarreal.
The Yellow Submarine, on the other hand, have shown their mettle as last season’s Europa League champions and will feel they can hurt this Juve side who have not hit new highs for a long time. Here are our tips for this fixture:
Juventus travel to Spain on the back of a draw and know that anything short of a favorable result will leave them with an uphill task in Turin. They have great attacking talent in Dusan Vlahovic, Adrian Rabiot, Paolo Dybala, Weston McKennie, and others and will play for the win as expected. Juventus to win or draw is available on the Parimatch sportsbook at 1.53 odds.
Both Villareal and Juventus boast great attacking quality and equally do not exactly have excellent defenses, so there is a huge chance of multiple goals being scored in this encounter. Over 1.5 goals is available on the Paripesa sportsbook at 1.40 odds.
Now that the away goal rule has been done away with, a lot is at stake for either side in this encounter. Villarreal will hope to turn in an excellent shift in front of their home fans, while Juventus will aim for a positive result against the second leg in Turin.
We expect a great and open football game with an array of attacking talent at both teams’ disposal. A red card for either team can change the course of this game, or any game, drastically, so till then, we keep our fingers crossed.
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