The club from Lisbon approached their quarter-final clash with Juventus as a side that had beaten the favorites, Arsenal from London, in the last leg of the tournament. Sporting proved their lack of fear of one of the best teams in Italy by creating some clear-cut goalscoring chances in Turin. Another thing is that none of them resulted in a goal, but the opponents managed to put one in the Portuguese goal. This was thanks to Gatti's efforts in the 73rd minute. The final protocol also included Sporting's advantage in possession, twice as many shots towards and away from goal as Juventus, and a threefold advantage in corners. Ruben Amorim's side will have a chance to prove they are ready to put another top European club out of the way at home. However, bookmakers do not really believe in this, suggesting Juventus are the favourites for the duel with odds of 1.38 to reach the semi-finals.

Sporting, on the whole, are in a fighting mood. In recent weeks, the green and white have tightened their situation in the Primera Liga, where they reduced the gap from third-placed Braga. It is now five points clear in the final seven rounds. The encounter in Turin was the fourth in 2023 in which Sporting did not manage to score a single goal. Given that the Lisbon club have played twenty of them, they have allowed just 20% of their matches to go dry. In the last ten official matches involving Sporting, eight-second halves contained at least one goal. And in all cases, it was the players of the green-and-whites who scored at least one goal in the second half.

Juventus, having lost their 15 points in Serie A, have important goals to achieve. They are now seventh, nine points adrift of Champions League runners-up AC Milan. It is very likely that the Turin side will not qualify for the next Champions League tie, which underlines the importance of the upcoming meeting in Lisbon in particular and promotion to the Europa League in general. Looking at most of the scenarios for the encounter, one of the clubs will attack vigorously in the second half in a bid to rectify an unsuccessful quarter-final run.