Juventus edged past Sporting Lisbon on Thursday night to take a 1-0 lead into their UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg.
In what proved to be another dramatic night of action across Europe, we had a whole lot of questions answered in the Europa League – and especially in Italy. Of course, we’re only half way through the story, but there’s still a whole lot to digest.
Courtesy of Federico Gatti’s second half strike, Juve will be the ones taking a 1-0 advantage into the second leg in Portugal. Today, we’re going to discuss a few of our biggest takeaways from the clash.
More important than football
Towards the end of the first half, Wojciech Szczęsny appeared to be suffering from shortness of breath. It was later revealed that he was dealing with heart palpitations, leading to him being taken off the pitch. Nobody knows what this is going to mean for the Pole’s long-term future, if anything at all, but it’s certainly the kind of moment that reminds us why some things are more important than the beautiful game.
Sporting’s hope
The good news here for Sporting Lisbon is that, for long spells, it did feel like they were on top. They won the possession battle, had more shots, and more corners. Of course, that isn’t going to mean a whole lot when compared with the scoreline, but we do need to remember that this is a two-legged affair. When they get this one back to Portugal, the atmosphere alone should help take them to a whole new level.
The Perin effect
Mattia Perin was the real hero for Juventus last night. He came onto the pitch without much notice, and proceeded to produce a performance that was worthy of the Man of the Match award. He knew that he had to step up when it mattered and he did so, producing a string of great saves to prevent Sporting from getting on the scoresheet. If he has to be Juve’s main man going forward, we can’t imagine the fans will be too upset with that after this showing.