Champions League: Juventus-Benfica X-ray

The match that closes out the league phase of the Champions League, for matchday 8, will pit Benfica against Juventus, in a duel in Turin scheduled for Wednesday, January 29, at 8:00 pm. The Reds aim to confirm their place in the next stage of the competition in Italy.

In a context in which both teams are in the play-off zone - Benfica with 10 points, in 21st place, and Juventus with 12, in 17th place - the Glorioso face an opponent who has also won the trophy on two occasions (1985 and 1996) and against whom their record is frankly positive.

The last time was in the 2022/23 Champions League group stage, when Benfica won 4-3 at the Estádio da Luz on October 25, 2022. In total, there have been eight matches between the two teams, of which the Reds have won six and drawn one, scoring 13 goals and conceding 9. Away from home, in Turin, there have been four matches in which Benfica have won two and drawn one.

So far, Benfica have picked up four points at home, with a win against Atlético Madrid (4-0) and a draw against Bologna (0-0), and six away from home, with wins against Red Star (1-2) and Monaco (2-3). Juventus, meanwhile, started their campaign with two wins, first at home to PSV (3-1) and then in the second round at Leipzig (2-3). The Vecchia Signora then lost at home to Stuttgart (0-1), drew at Lille (1-1) and Aston Villa (0-0), won at home to Manchester City (2-0) and drew at Club Brugge (0-0) in the previous round.

After seven rounds of the competition's league phase, looking at the data provided by UEFA, we can see Benfica's lead in chances created (90 against 72), shots on target (40-22) and blocked shots (29-17). The Transalpine side have had more shots off target (21-33).

In terms of passing, Juventus are more effective (89.2% against 82%), they also have more passes attempted (3436 against 2996) and a higher percentage of possession (51.1% against 45.3%). The Italians attempted more crosses (108 against 93), but the Eagles completed more crosses (30 against 22). The percentage of accurate crosses was also in Benfica's favor (32.3% against 20.4%).

Offensively, Benfica and Juventus have practically the same number of attacks (266 against 269), with the Italians superior in dribbles (101 against 91). Defensively, the Eagles recovered more balls (309 against 244), made more tackles (123-105) and won more (54-52).

In individual terms, Pavlidis (4) and Vlahovic (4) are the top scorers for each team; Beste and Di María (2), Yildiz, Francisco Conceição, Vlahovic, Cambiaso, Weah, Fagioli and González (1) have the most assists, while Aursnes (77.5) and Kalulu (74) have covered the most kilometers.

Pavlidis and Di María (17) and Vlahovic (14) had the most shots; Pavlidis (11) and Vlahovic (7) had the most shots on goal; Di María (27) and Francisco Conceição (26) had the most dribbles; Otamendi (50) and Locatelli (33) had the most recovered balls.