Juventus vs Olympique Lyonnais 08/08/20

08 August 2020

A 1-0 loss to Olympique Lyonnais in France gave Juventus a sizeable headache going into the return leg of their Champions League last-16 tie that will take place at the Allianz Stadium this week.

Juventus executed an almost perfect group-stage campaign, racking up five wins following a 2-2 away draw with Atletico Madrid in their competition’s curtain-raiser. Curiously, four of those triumphs saw the ‘Bianconeri’ score at least two goals and find the net at least once on or beyond the 75-minute mark. Despite winning just once in their last four home fixtures in the Champions League knockout stage (D1, L2), perennial Serie A champions relish the prospect of facing a Ligue 1 side. In fact, Juventus have won all 12 of their previous UEFA two-legged ties versus the French opponents and have yet to taste defeat in 14 home clashes against Ligue 1 visitors (W11, D3). It’s worth noting, though, that Juve have lost seven of their last ten UEFA ties in which they lost 1-0 away from home in the first leg.

As for the visitors, they’ve lost six of their previous seven last-16 ties, including the last three, and were losers in five of their past six away matches in this knockout round. Furthermore, ‘Les Gones’ have suffered four defeats in their last five trips to Italy (D1) and failed to see off the Italian opponents in five of seven two-legged ties. Also, a 2-0 win over Leipzig in Germany on Matchday 2 marks Lyon’s only road success in their last six Champions League away fixtures (D2, L3), with each of those three failures seeing the French outfit concede over 1.5 goals. But, Rudi Garcia can take some confidence from the fact Lyon have failed to win a two-legged tie after winning the first leg at home just three times in 21 such contests.