Champions League Matchday 4: Juventus,atletico,and Tottenham seek Crucial Wins
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TURIN,ITALY – as the UEFA Champions league group stage reaches its midpoint,several key clashes on Matchday 4 will significantly impact qualification hopes. Juventus, Atletico Madrid, and Tottenham Hotspur all face challenging fixtures as they aim to solidify their positions in their respective groups.
Juventus vs.Sporting CP
Massimiliano Allegri is in as the Juventus coach as the team desperately seeks to compete for the knockout stage of the Champions League after a poor start. Despite that, Juventus are still top 4 in Serie A and far from hopeless. Sporting CP’s win over Marseille on the last UCL matchday was impressive and improved their chances of knockout qualification. Sporting look highly competitive in the Liga Portugal this season as well, 8-1-1 after 10 games. Juventus will hope Kenan Yildiz can return from injury, Dusan Vlahovic will start as a striker. Colombia’s Luis Suarez is the starboy at the moment for Sporting and a revelation for them as striker.
Traveling to Turin doesn’t make this easy for Sporting, but they can manage a point. Prediction: 2-2 Draw
union Saint-Gilloise at Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid sit 4th on the La liga table and have looked lacking at times in the UCL campaign as well. A big win over Sevilla on the weekend gives confidence though. Union Saint-Gilloise have been dismantled by more expensive teams this season. David Hubert is in as manager (as Monaco hired Sebastian Pcognoli). The USG side has a lot of firepower and has three straight wins overall.
Alex Baena setting up goals for Julian Alvarez will be the focal point for Atletico, who have a more talented lineup, but could still trip up against a punchy USG side.Playing at home, expect Atletico to find it more comfortable. Prediction: Atletico Madrid 3 Union Saint-Gilloise 1
FC Copenhagen at Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur’s performance over the weekend against Chelsea was nothing short of terrible. The Spurs are struggling to produce goalscoring opportunities and have been passengers under the leadership of Thomas Frank in too many games this season. Playing at home against a Copenhagen squad they are simply better than on paper, expectations and tension are high.
Spurs recently crashed out of the EFL Cup, and a brief burst of form under Frank has now created storm clouds at the Hotspur stadium. Coenhagen have consecutive domestic wins ahead of this game, while Tottenham have lost two, but only Tottenham have a UCL win this season.
Lucas Bergvall and a number of other Tottenham players are injured including Dominic Solanke. Rodrigo Huescas and at least four other best XI players for Copenhagen are also injured. Copenhagen develops some talented players, but Tottenham are defensively sound, the challenge is whether Xavi Simons and co. can find the back of the net or if Spurs fans will be left frustrated by a dire draw. Prediction: Tottenham 1 Copenhagen 0
Main Photo Credit: IMAGO/ Xinhua
