Women's Champions League preview: Juventus vs Chelsea

Juventus, the only Group A side to record a win on Matchday 1, will be aiming for another success against last season's UEFA Women’s Champions League runners-up Chelsea.

• Joe Montemurro's side won 3-0 in a dominant display against Servette on 6 October with goals from Arianna Caruso (36), Lina Hurtig (65) and Valentina Cernoia (71), after Andrea Stašková had a 27th-minute penalty saved.

• The Bianconere will kick off their home campaign in this season's competition in the stadium that will host the final in May 2022.

• Montemurro comes up against familiar foes, having joined the Turin-based club in the summer after spending four years with Chelsea's Women's Super League rivals Arsenal.

• The Blues staged a dramatic comeback against Wolfsburg in the opening round of group stage matches, taking the lead through Sam Kerr (12) before going 3-1 down early in the second half. Emma Hayes' team fought back through Beth England (51) and Pernille Harder's equaliser – against her former club – in added time.

Ones to watch: Juventus

Arianna Caruso
• The 21-year-old scored her fourth goal of this UEFA Women's Champions League campaign, including qualifying, against Servette, when she was named Player of the Match.

• The midfielder hit a hat-trick in the 12-0 preliminary victory against North Macedonian champions Kamenica Sasa on 18 August; her Juve team-mate Andrea Stašková also got three goals.

• She is currently in her fifth season with the Bianconere, having joined from capital club Res Roma in 2017.

• The Italian international scored her first Azzurre goal in a 12-0 win against Israel in Florence in UEFA Women's EURO 2022 qualifying in February, a result that booked their place in next year's finals.

Lina Hurtig
• The 26-year-old made it four goals in six appearances for the Bianconere in the UEFA Women's Champions League, qualifiers included, with her strike on Matchday 1.

• The forward joined Juventus in August 2020 having spent three years with Swedish side Linköpings, with whom she clinched a Damallsvenskan title in 2017.

• The striker was a member of the Linköpings team that reached the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals in 2017/18, losing 7-3 on aggregate to Manchester City. She failed to score past City but did hit four goals en route to the last eight.

• Hurtig, now a senior Swedish international, was part of the side that beat Spain after extra time in the 2012 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship final in Turkey.

Andrea Stašková
• The 21-year-old missed the opportunity to add to her four qualifying goals in this season's this UEFA Women’s Champions League when her 27th-minute penalty was saved on Matchday 1.

• The striker joined Caruso in hitting a hat-trick in the Bianconere's 12-0 qualifying success against Kamenica Sasa of North Macedonia in August.

• Stašková joined the Turin-based outfit ahead of 2019/20 following a successful season with Sparta Praha, where she scooped a second successive Czech league and cup double, finishing as the Czech league's top scorer with 32 goals.

• The Czech Republic international scored her first Juventus goal in a 2-1 round of 32 second-leg defeat at Barcelona in September 2019.

Ones to watch: Chelsea

Pernille Harder
• The 28-year-old kept up her impressive scoring rate in this competition with a last-gasp equaliser against former side Wolfsburg on Matchday 1, her added-time goal her 31st in 39 UEFA Women's Champions League appearances.

• The Danish international forward has now scored four goals in her last six UEFA Women's Champions League appearances after a run of three without a goal.

• The forward is a three-time beaten UEFA Women's Champions League finalist, having been a runner-up with Wolfsburg in 2018 and 2020 and Chelsea last season.

• Despite being eliminated at the quarter-final stage of this competition in 2018/19, Harder still ended the competition as top scorer with eight goals.

Sam Kerr
• The 28-year-old's impressive lob in the 3-3 draw against Wolfsburg on 6 October was voted the Matchday 1 Goal of the Week and made it three in her last six matches in this competition – all those goals coming against Wolfsburg.

• The forward topped the scoring charts in the Women's Super League last season, having also been a golden boot winner in Australia's W-League and in the NWSL in the United States.
• Kerr, who joined the Blues midway through the 2019/20 season, has helped her side scoop the Women's Super League and League Cup in each of the last two campaigns, scoring a hat-trick in last season's League Cup final against Bristol City.

• The Australian international won her 100th cap for the Matildas in the 3-2 friendly defeat against the Republic of Ireland last month.

Beth England
• The 27-year-old scored her fourth UEFA Women’s Champions League goal in the Matchday 1 draw against Wolfsburg, those strikes all coming in her last seven appearances.

• The forward scored home and away in last season's 8-0 aggregate round of 32 win against Benfica, including two in the 3-0 second-leg home victory.

• England joined Chelsea ahead of the 2016 season from first club Doncaster Rovers Belles, and finished 2019/20 as the Blues' leading scorer with 21 goals in all competitions.

• The English international was named the 2019/20 PFA Women's Player of the Year, also scooping the equivalent Women's Super League honour for 2020.

Key stats

• Juventus have won all five UEFA Women's Champions League matches this season (F22 A1) having not previously been victorious in a match in this competition (D1 L5).

• Juventus have kept four clean sheets in their five European matches this season.

• Ling Hurtig has scored in three of Juve's last four European fixtures.

• Chelsea won both their previous UEFA Women's Champions League matches against Italian opposition, against Fiorentina in the 2018/19 round of 16 (1-0 h, 6-0 a).

• The Blues have failed to score in only one of their last 18 UEFA Women's Champions League matches and have got the first goal in eight of their last ten games in the competition.

• Chelsea have kept only one clean sheet in their last seven UEFA Women's Champions League games.