Juventus will host Freiburg on Thursday evening in the first leg of their round of 16 tie in the Europa League. The Bianconeri come into this tie after eliminating French club Nantes 4-1 on aggregate in the play-off round while their German opponents bypassed the previous round after finishing on top of the aforementioned Nantes, Qarabag, and Olympiacos in Group G.
These two sides have had contrasting form in their respective domestic leagues. Juventus are eighth in Serie A, albeit with a 15-point penalty, whereas Freiburg are equal fourth with RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga. However, Leipzig have the Champions League spot for now due to their superior goal difference.
Angel Di Maria was the clear standout in the second leg against Nantes, scoring a hat-trick, and the Breisgau Brazilians will need to keep an eye on the Argentinian veteran. La Vecchia Signora will need to negate the threat of Vincenzo Grifo, the German-born Italy international of Sicilian and Apulian origins.
Grifo is the talisman of this Freiburg side, having scored twice and supplied an assist in six Europa League matches. In the Bundesliga, he has scored 12 goals and provided four assists in 22 league games.
Juventus vs Freiburg: Predicted line-ups
Mattia De Sciglio will be missing for Juventus with a muscular injury while Arkadiusz Milik is a doubt as he is covering from a muscle injury of his own. Meanwhile, Freiburg will be missing Ghanaian midfielder Daniel-Kofi Kyereh with a knee injury and Austrian forward Michael Gregoritsch with an illness.
Juventus predicted XI v Freiburg (3-5-1-1): Szczesny; Danilo, Bremer, Alex Sandro; Cuadrado, Fagioli, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Di Maria; Vlahovic.
Freiburg predicted XI v Juventus (4-4-2): Flekken; Kubler, Ginter, Lienhart, Gunter; Doan, Eggestein, Hofler, Grifo; Holer, Sallai
Juventus v Freiburg: When does the Europa League fixture start?
The Europa League fixture of Juventus v Freiburg kicks off at 21:00 CET – local time in Italy – making it a 20:00 GMT kick-off.
In the United States, kick-off of Juventus v Freiburg is 15:00 ET or 12:00 PT.
Juventus v Freiburg: Where to watch the Europa League fixture?
In the United States, every Europa League game in 2022/23 can be seen on Paramount+, including Juventus v Freiburg and the other standout fixtures of the Europa League play-off round.
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, you can watch Juventus v Freiburg on BT Sport 4.
