Malmo vs Juventus | Match Preview & Lineup
Match preview
Running out of a league win this season, after losing to Napoli in their first game since Cristiano Ronaldo officially left for Manchester United, it seems the apparent crisis at Juventus is only growing rather than regressing.
Serie A’s top scorer in 2020-21, Ronaldo helped the Bianconeri win the Scudetto in his first two seasons, but his third year in Turin was plagued by collective, if not personal, underperformance.
A punishment loss to promoted Empoli just before the international break, plus Saturday’s loss to his great rivals from the south, leaves the Italian giants in chaos once again, despite trading rookie coach Andrea Pirlo for the experienced mastermind Max Allegri, who led Juventus to the final in 2015 and 2017 but lost both times.
Pirlo’s team may have won five of their six group stage matches last season, even claiming first place in Group G with a 3-0 win at Barcelona on the final matchday, but for the second season in a row. , Juve crashed on away goals in the final 16.
Having lost on aggregate to Porto after suffering the same fate against Lyon in 2019-20, this year Juventus find themselves in a challenging group, which also features champion Chelsea, as well as national champions Sweden and Russia.
In their previous 51 national top-flight campaigns, in 2015 alone the Bianconeri also failed to win any of their first three league games. Furthermore, Allegri has now failed to win the last eight matches in charge of the club, including the end of the previous successful spell of him as his boss.
So there is pressure to get a quick start in Malmo on opening night before a supposed crisis turns into a nightmare.
Back-to-back Swedish champions, Juventus hosts have already staged a successful qualifying campaign to reach the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2015, having beaten Riga, Nordic neighbor HJK Helsinki, champion Scottish Rangers, and then Ludogorets during a demanding preliminary. process.
Although a recent drop in form has seen Malmo drop off the top of the Allsvenskan in defense of its title, Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side, who claimed the club’s 21st Swedish title in 2020; his fifth in the past eight years, he is expected to demonstrate a problematic presence in Group H.
Di Blae’s two previous appearances in the top-tier group stage came in 2014 and 2015, with the latter representing the last time a Swedish club achieved the bright lights and prestige of this stage.
After finishing fourth in his section in both previous appearances, winning one game and losing the other five each time, Tomasson will be interested in his team turning national dominance into tangible continental progress – and he will not just be content to do so. far.
A former Milan striker, who did not do well during his initiation as coach in the Netherlands, but did much better at Eleda Stadion, scored a goal in his two games against Juve in 2003-04. Undoubtedly, Tomasson and I would be delighted to take advantage of the old woman’s current pain this week, particularly with the tough matches against Chelsea and Zenit in the coming weeks.
Team News
On Tuesday, Max Allegri hopes to welcome back several men who missed the loss in Naples, as South American stars Juan Cuadrado, Paulo Dybala, Danilo, Alex Sandro, and Rodrigo Bentancur, who returned late from international service, could participate.
However, Italian winger Federico Chiesa may remain out of the game due to a hamstring problem and the Brazilian duo of Kaio Jorge and Arthur are absent for the Bianconeri, but Aaron Ramsey returned to the bench on Saturday and should be involved. .
In the absence of Chiesa and Dybala, Allegri chose Dejan Kulusevski with Álvaro Morata upfront, and the Swedish striker is a candidate to start over in his hometown.
Malmö, meanwhile, still has Ola Toivonen and Jonas Knudsen absent from long-term injuries in the treatment room, while Finnish veteran Niklas Moisander and regular midfielder Oscar Lewicki also have doubts. Goalkeeper Ismael Diawara has replaced the injured Johan Dahlin in recent weeks and should continue between the posts.
Club captain Anders Christiansen, a two-time Allsvenskan Player of the Year since joining the club in 2016 and a member of the Danish team at Euro 2020, will be joined in midfield with summer signing Sergio Peña, if he is available. The Peruvian international joined Di Blae after the Copa América, where he started all seven matches when his nation reached the semifinals, but recently suffered a calf injury and needs to be monitored before the match.
Upfront, dangerous Croatian striker Antonio Colak, a star of the qualifying campaign, could join Veljko Birmancevic, a 23-year-old Serbian who scored in both playoff games against Ludogorets.
Malmo possible starting lineup:
Diawara; Larsson, Ahmedhodzic, Brorsson, Olsson; Rakip, Innocent; Rieks, Christiansen, Birmancevic; Colak
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Bonucci, Sandro; McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot; Kulusevski, Morata, Dybala