SC Freiburg welcomes Juventus to the Stade Europa Park on Thursday evening for the second leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 clashes. The visitors lead the tie by a one-goal margin and seem destined to make the quarter-finals. A brilliant headed finish by Angel Di Maria places Juventus in a favourable spot going into the second leg with a one-goal advantage.
SC Freiburg were unable to create any potent attacks and looked poor in the first leg. Currently, in fifth place in the Bundesliga, the Germans are in a very crucial phase of their 2022/23 campaign and must capitalize on the home advantage in the second leg.
Below, we take a look at some of the stats that depict what the first leg looked like and comprehend how the return leg could play out.
Overall comparison
The viz above shows the percentile rank of both teams’ stats compared to each other as well as to other teams in the UEFA Europa League 2022–23. It can be seen that both teams are closely ranked in terms of most of the stats. Although the German team has better rankings in attacking departments, Juventus haven’t played as many matches in the Europa League and therefore have a lower rank in terms of goals and expected goals. Even then, the Italians have better pass accuracy and manage to maintain a higher rank in terms of key passes per 90.
Positioning and xG in the first leg
The two visuals above show SC Freiburg’s xG map and pass map from the first leg. They showed some intent early on but never seemed to have a game plan in place. The Breisgau-Brasilianer had only one attempt on goal from outside the penalty area in the entire 90, finishing with zero xG and failing to test Wojciech Szczesny. They took one shot in total, missing the target, and attempted 487 passes with 83.16% accuracy. Even though the team made plenty of movement in the opposition’s half, they failed to generate any kind of efficiency through the attack. The Germans created 26 positional attacks, none of which ended in a shot, and overall failed to generate any kind of counter-attacking threat.
The two visuals above show Juventus’ pass map and xG map from the first leg against the German side. They penetrated the Freiburg penalty box with effect, took 18 shots, with six on target, and ended the match with 1.65 xG. Juventus played with a high backline, with the full-backs almost playing as wide midfielders and the centre midfielders proving key in linking defence with the attack. They attempted 420 passes and completed 370 with 88.1% accuracy. The team imposed their dominance on the tie and was in control of proceedings throughout the match.
Comparing winger actions
The two viz above compare both teams on the basis of their ball progression actions in the first leg of the tie. While both teams used the flanks significantly to advance with the ball, Juventus were more successful in delivering forward passes and crosses into the box from the wide positions compared to SC Freiburg. The goal was a result of an excellent cross into the box by Filip Kostic, finished by the ever-present Angel Di Maria.
The visitors attempted 50 passes to the final third, compared to 39 such passes by the hosts. Juventus made eight successful crosses out of 14 attempted, whereas SC Freiburg delivered five out of 18 crosses attempted in the match.
Going into the second leg, the Breisgau-Brasilianer must look to put more crosses and passes into the box from wide areas, as well as surprise the Juventus defence with penetrations into the box through the likes of their wide forwards and wingbacks.
Key players
Vincenzo Grifo is SC Freiburg’s top scorer in the Bundesliga and will have huge expectations going into this one. The above viz for his shot map in the Europa League shows how the player attacks down the left flank. After being the only one to manage an effort in the first leg, the fans will hope for a thrilling performance from the player this time around. With two goals to his name (0.83 xG), he has four shots on target and a 0.05 xG per shot.
Angel Di Maria had a total of nine penetrating carries in the first leg. He seems to be at the peak of his career yet again after his heroics in the World Cup, and he continues to impress at Juventus. Three of his carries were directly in front of the goal near the penalty spot. He managed to get into dangerous areas and build play as an attacking midfielder in the first half. Later on, he moved to the right flank and played as one of the wide midfielders.
Team news
SC Freiburg will play without Daniel-Kofi Kyereh and Philipp Lienhart, with the rest of the squad available for selection.
Juventus, meanwhile, will be without Paul Pogba, Federico Chiesa and Arkadiusz Milik as they travel to Germany.
Overall, the Italians have a chance to redeem themselves in Europe by progressing to the quarters and earning a chance to get their hands on European silverware for a long time. The German side seems wounded, and their recent drop in the form will surely not work in their favour. It remains to be seen if Juventus are back to being European giants, which will be determined by the scoreline in this one.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
