(Football news) After a run of just one win from six matches, Juventus welcome Benfica to Turin in what has become a must win game for Allegri’s side. Juve suffered their first defeat of the season against PSG where they were undone by a first-half Kylian Mbappe double but fans will be hopeful that they can overturn their fortunes against Benfica. Allegri's men are languishing in eighth place in the Serie A standings as they cannot afford to slip up again in Group H, with surely just one spot in the last-16 up for grabs between three teams, as PSG will potentially take top spot in the group.
Juventus have traditionally struggled in their meetings with Benfica down the years as they have won only once and lost four times in six previous matches. The most recent encounter between the clubs came in the 2014 Europa League semi-finals, where Benfica won the leg 2-1 on aggregate, following a goalless draw in Turin. The Eagles arrive in Turin on the back of a scintillating run of form at home and abroad, which has seen them claim victory in all the 11 matches they have played so far this season. They have put together 17 consecutive victories which stretches back to last season, scoring 47 goals and keeping 10 clean sheets since they last lost to Porto in May.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Perin; Danilo, Bonucci, Bremer, Sandro; Miretti, Paredes, McKennie; Cuadrado, Vlahovic, Kostic
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Vlachodimos; Gilberto, Otamendi, A. Silva, Grimaldo; Fernandez, Luis; Draxler, R. Silva, Mario; Ramos
Having experienced very different fortunes on the opening night in the Champions League, Rangers and Napoli meet at Ibrox. The club from Naples are already three points clear of their Group A rivals, and arriving in Scotland in fine form. It may have taken the best part of 90 minutes to break Spezia's defensive resistance on Saturday, but Napoli followed up on their massive success against the 2019 UCL winners by snatching a 1-0 win through Giacomo Raspadori's late strike which put them top of the Serie A standings after six matches.
The Campanian club have had an entire rebuild of their squad after a series of summer departures, but if anything, new boys Raspadori, Kim Min-jae and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia have helped them forget their old players quite quickly. Defensive improvement will surely be on the agenda for Rangers as they have conceded 2 goals in their last two matches in their previous matches as they have already seen a five-point gap open up to Celtic at the top of the table. After securing Champions League football for the first time in 12 years, the Europa League runners-up, who made their way past Union SG and PSV in the qualifiers, will surely not give up on their last-16 dreams without a fight.
Rangers possible starting lineup:
McLaughlin; Tavernier, Goldson, Sands, Barisic; Lundstram, Davis; Tillman, Kamara, Kent; Colak
Napoli possible starting lineup:
Meret; Di Lorenzo, Kim, Rrahmani, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka; Politano, Zielinski, Kvaratskhelia; Simeone
Also read: UCL: Potter’s Chelsea face Salzburg while Man City take on Dortmund
