In the Champions League, things are becoming pretty hot. Given the new structure of the league and the appointment of Thiago Motta as Juventus’ coach, the team does stand a good chance of making it to the Champions League knockout stages this year. Unbeknownst to some, Juventus’ new coach Thiago Motta is not afraid to make drastic changes and even rebuild his club from the ground up. He shocked several supporters by starting Nico Gonzalez, Douglas Luiz, Pierre Kalulu, and Teun Koopmeiners in their maiden Juventus starts against Empoli. Let’s examine Juventus’ prospects of winning the trophy in light of this new leadership approach.
Thiago Motta: Who is he?
In case you haven’t heard, Thiago Motta is the new and exciting coach of Juventus. Just to refresh everyone’s memory, Motta is a former Brazilian football player who is currently a football manager. He was a superb midfield player. Many Brazilian supporters laud the player for his technical prowess, tactical awareness, and adaptability on the field—qualities that should come in helpful when he dominates the Italian squad. When Motta was a player at Barcelona, he was a member of the team that won the UEFA Champions League in 2005–2006. A few years later, he played for teams like Inter Milan, helping the team win many Serie A titles and the 2010 Champions League.
As you can see, Motta possesses the expertise necessary to successfully guide Juventus, not to mention his aptitude for developing young players and tactical sense. Hopefully, his well-known coaching approach will always showcase his in-depth knowledge of the game.
What is Juventus’s possible group stage performance?
Any of you who follow football or soccer, depending on your preferred term, are aware of how unpredictable the game can be. That’s why so many people go to see matches live all across the world, isn’t that right? Being in the stands and feeling the roar of the crowd is so thrilling.
Juve is counting on having home advantage in the next games, and even though the squad has drawn some intriguing opponents in the redesigned Champions League group stage, anything can happen. The Bianconeri are among the heavyweights in Europe going into this season.
The only factor that might be on your losing team’s list is that the Old Lady’s current roster does not have a particular level of Champions League experience, which could somewhat hurt its chances of winning. However, we anticipate that they will begin the season with a victory over PSV, and that’s precisely the mystery that makes soccer so thrilling.
It’s safe to say that the Dutch team will be formidable, but Juventus will be playing at home, and their home crowd should help them to win. Experts and players alike have expressed various opinions about the team’s recent reorganization; some are thrilled about the new lineup, while others are concerned that the newcomers may be inexperienced and lack certain skills. Time will tell.
Going back to the group stages, pundits and supporters predict that Juventus’ matchup with RB Leipzig would be far more difficult. If you support RB Leipzig, you are aware of the German team’s dominance in many categories and their regular participation in the Champions League.
In addition to its wealth of expertise, the team is home to some of the top players in the Bundesliga, such as Willi Orbán, Lukas Klostermann, and Xavi Simons. At the beginning of next month, Juventus will probably struggle and might possibly lose that match in Germany. However, given Stuttgart and Lille are easier opponents for Motta’s team to handle, the Bianconeri ought to recover in their next two UCL games.
Juventus’ matchup with Aston Villa in England is another challenging one. With a wealth of experience in European events, Unai Emery’s club has steadily progressed since coming to England. Then, Juventus will play their fiercest group-stage rival, Manchester City, at home. Juventus will be put to the test in this encounter, as Pep Guardiola’s team is among the overwhelming favorites to win the Champions League.
The way the season has begun thus far
Because of a ban, the Bianconeri were unable to compete in the previous championship, but they are back with a new squad. In case you were unaware, Juventus has not only appointed a new manager but also sold and brought in new players for the majority of the players that participated in the 2022–2023 Champions League season. This move might potentially result in success or failure.
The shift in their playmaking this season—which Motta instituted a system that Bianconeri supporters have seldom seen—may be even more thrilling. Even during the period when they won five straight league titles and twice advanced to the Champions League final, Max Allegri, who led the team for a total of eight of the last 10 seasons, never had the most engaging style.
It’s being changed by Motta. Even so, he understands that winning trophies is crucial, regardless of how well the squad performs. Juventus’s UEFA Champions League campaign has gotten off to a bright start. They have established themselves as strong competitors by showcasing their tactical skill and resiliency during the group round.
How likely is Juventus to advance to the next round?
Juventus may finish as the second-best club in their group, after Manchester City, considering the caliber of the teams they will play in the Champions League group stage. This implies that, barring the match against City, Motta can lead the Bianconeri to victory in the remaining games.
But Juventus will have to perform at its peak, particularly in the games against RB Leipzig and Aston Villa. With the exception of the City match, winning those two games and the rest should be sufficient to guarantee a spot in the knockout stage.
But given the squad’s inexperience, Juventus might find it difficult to go past the round of 16 once the knockout stages begin. Juventus does have a strong chance because the Champions League is still young, and supporters are eager to watch what “The White and Blacks” will achieve with this amazing possibility.