Sporting CP vs Juventus facts

After a closely contested first leg in Turin, which Juventus won 1-0, Sporting CP will be hoping to exploit home advantage and turn this UEFA Europa League quarter-final around in Lisbon. Both clubs began their 2022/23 European campaign in the UEFA Champions League group stage. 

Sporting made a strong start in UEFA Champions League Group D before falling away and only just snatching the consolation of third place in the final minute of Matchday 6. Rúben Amorim's team then overcame Midtjylland in the UEFA Europa League knockout play-offs (1-1 h, 4-0 a) before dramatically eliminating English Premier League leaders Arsenal 5-3 on penalties in the round of 16 (2-2 h, 1-1 a), Pedro Gonçalves' spectacular halfway-line lob having drawn the teams level in the second leg in London.

Juventus recorded a club-record low of just three points in their autumn UEFA Champions League campaign but claimed third place in Group H on goal difference to extend their European involvement into the spring for the 11th successive season and return to the UEFA Europa League for the first time since 2013/14. Having eliminated Nantes in the knockout play-off thanks to a second-leg hat-trick from Ángel Di María (1-1 h, 3-0 a), Massimiliano Allegri's side saw off Freiburg in the round of 16 (1-0 h, 2-0 a) as Di María, Dušan Vlahović and Federico Chiesa all found the net.

Previous meetings

Sporting dominated large spells of the first leg on 13 April but ended up on the losing side as Juventus defender Federico Gatti scored the only goal of the game from close range in the 73rd minute to register his first senior goal for the Bianconeri. A defiant late double save from Juve's replacement goalkeeper Mattia Perin preserved the Italian side's victory in what was Sporting's record-breaking 192nd fixture in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League – one more than Inter Milan.

The clubs have been paired just once previously in UEFA competition, in the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League group stage. Sporting, led by Jorge Jesus, took the lead in both matches, but Allegri's Juventus came back to win the first 2-1 in Turin with goals from Miralem Pjanić (29) and Mario Mandžukić (84) and draw the second in Lisbon 1-1, Gonzalo Higuaín (79) equalising Bruno César's 20th-minute opener.

This is Sporting's first UEFA contest with Italian opposition since those matches. They have won just five of their 30 games against Italian sides overall (D11 L14), though four of those victories have been in Lisbon (D8 L2), where they are unbeaten in the last five such encounters (W2 D3).

Sporting's record in two-legged ties with teams from Italy is W2 L8. They have lost all of the last six, the most recent on away goals against Fiorentina in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League play-offs (2-2 h, 1-1 a).

Juventus had already faced Portuguese opposition this season before the first leg, losing both UEFA Champions League group games to Sporting's city rivals Benfica (1-2 h, 3-4 a). The Turin club's overall record against Portuguese clubs is now W10 D3 L7. In Portugal the figures are W2 D2 L5 with defeats on each of their last two visits.

In addition to defeating Porto 2-1 in the 1984 European Cup Winners' Cup final Juventus have won three and lost three of their six two-legged ties with Portuguese sides, losing the most recent, against Porto on away goals after extra time in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League round of 16 (1-2 a, 3-2 h).

Form guide

Sporting

Champions of Portugal in 2020/21 – their first league title in 19 years – Sporting finished second to Porto last season while retaining the Portuguese League Cup. Led by title-winning boss Amorim, the Lions also reached the UEFA Champions League knockout phase for the first time in 13 years before going out to Manchester City (0-5 h, 0-0 a).

Sporting made it back-to-back UEFA Champions League group campaigns for only the fourth time this season and looked set to repeat their 2021/22 feat when they won their first two games – 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt and 2-0 at home to Tottenham – but successive defeats by Marseille (1-4 a, 0-2 h) put a brake on their progress. Although all options were open going into Matchday 6, they lost 1-2 at home to Frankfurt and only edged Marseille into third spot, thus prolonging their European season, thanks to a last-gasp winner from Spurs at the Stade Vélodrome.

Having knocked out Midtjylland and Arsenal, Sporting are participating in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals for the second time. They were successful in their lone previous such tie, beating Metalist Kharkiv in 2011/12 (2-1 h, 1-1 a). That run to the semi-finals remains their standout season in the UEFA Europa League, though they were UEFA Cup runners-up in 2005, losing the final 3-1 to CSKA Moskva in their home stadium.

Sporting have lost five of their last ten European home games (W3 D2), conceding 18 goals in those defeats, and have managed just one home victory in five European outings this season (D2 L2). Their record at the Estádio José Alvalade in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase is W8 D6 L2; despite that strong home form they have won just eight of their 16 ties.

Sporting have lost the first leg away in 23 UEFA competition ties, recovering to win nine of them, each of their last seven successes having come after overturning one-goal deficits. Their overall record after losing the first away leg 1-0 is W4 L2, with both aggregate defeats on away goals, the most recent such success having come against Newcastle United in the quarter-finals of the 2004/05 UEFA Cup (4-1 h).

Juventus

Having won a record nine successive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2020, Juve finished fourth for the second season running in 2021/22 – their first with serial Scudetto-winning boss Allegri back at the helm after two years away. They also fell in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 for the third successive season, losing to Villarreal (1-1 a, 0-3 h).

This term Juve made their 23rd UEFA Champions League group stage appearance but it turned out to be a short-lived campaign as they failed to finish in the top two for the first time since 2013/14. Defeated twice by both Paris Saint-Germain (1-2 a, 1-2 h) and Benfica, they also traded wins with Maccabi Haifa (3-1 h, 0-2 a) but pipped the Israeli champions to third place on goal difference.

Three-time UEFA Cup winners, in 1977, 1990 and 1993, the Bianconeri's fourth UEFA Europa League campaign has extended into the last eight for the second time thanks to those successes against Nantes and Freiburg. They won their only other tie at this stage, against Lyon in 2013/14 (1-0 a, 2-1 h), only to be subsequently knocked out in the semi-finals by Benfica (1-2 a, 0-0 h) with the final tantalisingly staged at their home stadium.

Juventus's win at Nantes in February ended a five-match winless streak on the road in UEFA competition that incorporated a hat-trick of away defeats in their UEFA Champions League group – the first time that had occurred since the 2001/02 second group stage. In the UEFA Europa League knockout phase, however, their away record is now W6 L2 with two wins and two clean sheets this season.

Juve have won 36 of the 44 UEFA competition ties in which they claimed a victory in the home first leg, including the last six. Their record after a 1-0 first-leg home win is W6 L4, the most recent instance bringing victory in this season's round of 16 against Freiburg. The last team to overturn a European tie against Juventus after losing the first leg in Turin were Fulham in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 16 (1-3 a, 4-1 h).

Links and trivia 

Di María played for Benfica between 2007 and 2010 and was a team-mate of Sporting coach Amorim during his second and third seasons with the Lisbon club. They were Portuguese champions together in 2009/10.

Juve's Brazilian defenders Alex Sandro (2011–15) and Danilo (2012–15) both played in Portugal for Porto.

Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adán played two Serie A games for Cagliari in 2013/14, the second a 1-4 home defeat against Juventus, shortly after which he cancelled his contract with the Sardinian club.

Sporting's reserve goalkeeper Franco Israel spent four seasons with Juventus's youth sides (2018–22) but never played for the first team.

Other Sporting players to have featured for Italian clubs are Luís Neto (Siena 2012/13) and Jovane Cabral, who played three games in Serie A for Lazio in 2022, his first start a 2-2 draw against Juventus.

Neto played briefly alongside Juventus midfielder Leandro Paredes in Russia with Zenit in 2017.

Sporting defender Héctor Bellerín and Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny were Arsenal team-mates in 2014/15, winning the FA Cup together.

Juventus have kept clean sheets in their last four UEFA Europa League matches. One more will tie the competition record currently held by eight different clubs. No team has ever kept five successive clean sheets in the competition's knockout phase.

While Sporting were held 1-1 at home by Arouca in the Portuguese Liga at the weekend, Juventus lost 1-0 at Sassuolo in Serie A – the first time they have suffered successive league defeats this season, after also going down at Lazio (1-2) eight days earlier.

The winners of this tie will face either Manchester United or Sevilla in the semi-final.

Penalty shoot-outs

Sporting's record in three UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:
3-5 v Dinamo Minsk, 1984/85 UEFA Cup second round
3-4 v Napoli, 1989/90 UEFA Cup first round
5-3 v Arsenal, 2022/23 UEFA Europa League round of 16

Juventus's record in six UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W3 L3:
3-0 v Ajax, 1977/78 European Cup quarter-final
1-4 v Widzew Łódź, 1980/81 UEFA Cup second round
4-2 v Argentinos Juniors, 1985 European/South American Cup final
1-3 v Real Madrid, 1986/87 European Cup second round
4-2 v Ajax, 1995/96 UEFA Champions League final
2-3 v AC Milan, 2002/03 UEFA Champions League final