Overview
Last weekend at the Olimpico stadium, Juventus faced Roma - a direct competitor in the top 4 race - and understand that a defeat would be a heavy blow to their hopes of participating in European cups.
Just a few days after stopping in the Champions League with a regrettable defeat to Galatasaray in extra time, coach Luciano Spalletti's team continued to experience an emotional match when they drew 3-3 with Roma in Serie A.
Juventus was 2 goals down until the match was only about 15 minutes left. Jeremie Boga rekindled hope with the first goal for the club with a beautiful volley, before center-back Federico Gatti scored a dramatic equalizer in the final minutes.
Bianconeri is the team that has scored the most goals in injury time in the second half of this season and has won quite a few points from being led. However, that fighting spirit only helps them hold on at a certain level.
Juventus is currently experiencing 4 consecutive matches without a win in Serie A - in contrast to their previous good form when they won 7 out of 9 matches. This makes the Turin team have to strive to catch up with Como and Roma in the race to win a European cup spot.
Therefore, they are not allowed to make more mistakes when hosting an opponent who is facing many difficulties and has only won one victory since the beginning of the season.
Head-to-head history is also on Juventus' side. After a 2-0 victory at Pisa at the end of December, they are still unbeaten in 15 encounters with this opponent in Serie A with 11 wins and 4 draws.
Pisa even lost all seven away matches in Serie A against Juventus, conceding a total of 20 goals. However, the Tuscany team still traveled to Turin with the hope of creating a surprise, although reality shows that they are going through an extremely difficult season.
Pisa has only had one victory in Serie A this season and is likely to soon return to Serie B. Since the victory in early November, they have gone through 16 consecutive winless matches in the league.
The 0-1 defeat to Bologna was their third consecutive defeat. Since coach Oscar Hiljemark took over, Pisa has only scored a single goal after 4 matches.
If they do not have a miraculous comeback in the final stage of the season, Pisa is almost certain to be relegated after only one season returning to Serie A, when they are 9 points behind the safe group.
Personnel situation
Juventus may welcome the return of captain Manuel Locatelli to the squad after this midfielder completed a one-match suspension in the previous round. In addition, another pillar of theirs is also approaching the day of reappearance after a long absence.
Dusan Vlahovic has returned to training after more than 3 months of injury break, although the Serbian striker is likely not yet on the squad list. Currently, Juventus only has two definite absences, Emil Holm and Arkadiusz Milik.
On the other side, Pisa is still missing 3 players due to injury including Daniel Denoon, Isak Vural and Simone Scuffet.
Positive news for the away team is that goalkeeper Adrian Semper has returned to normal training. This makes Nicolas' position as the third substitute goalkeeper uncertain.
Expected lineup:
Perin, Kalulu, Bremer, Kelly, McKennie, Thuram, Locatelli, Cambiaso, Conceicao, Yildiz, David.
Semper, Canestrelli, Caracciolo, Bozhinov, Toure, Loyola, Aebischer, Marin, Angori, Moreo, Durosinmi.
The match between Juventus and Pisa takes place at 2:45 am on March 8 (Vietnam time).
