Red Star Rising, But Can They Stop The Old Lady?
Juventus travel to Belgrade with a patched-up squad, but the numbers still point one way.
Eight wins in ten. That is Juventus's record in the 4-3-3 they will surely bring to Belgrade, and it is the number Red Star must find an answer to. The Bianconeri have scored 22 and conceded once across those ten games, creating a clear-cut chance every 47 minutes. Their record against a 4-4-2 is even cleaner: four games, four wins, eleven goals, none conceded. Red Star's expected 4-4-2 will need to be braver than the numbers suggest.
Juventus are without Jamal Tazi and Giuseppe Cuomo, and several regulars arrive tired. Red Star's Aleksandar Abdiji is the man in form, averaging 7.38 across his last five, but he faces Juan Berenguel, who wins the aerial battle on paper. The key duel is Assaf Kabilo against Slobodan Radosavljević: the winger's 7.4 average against the left-back's 7.49. Something has to give.