Juventus have their 15 points back following a successful appeal and that means they are now in a very strong position to claim a Champions League spot from their Serie A placing. However, things are never that straightforward in Italy and it appears that the prosecutors can still also appeal after seeing the reasons for the reversal! Or that a lower deductions could be applied, which I doubt Juve would kick up too much fuss about as long as it kept them top 4 and that option might be a face saver for the prosecutors. It means they will have to keep going in the league and look to get 6+ points ahead of the team in 4th if possible, or that is what I would try to do! That is not to say that they do not want to win a European trophy and keep this additional route to the CL open , but it does mean they continue to play under pressure and they have been in that situation for months and last weekend's win over Atalanta aside, it has looked like the stress has been getting to them in recent starts. Even in Bergamo they gave up an enormous amount of chances (24) and only Atalanta misfiring ( hit the woodwork twice) got them over the line. They really rode their luck in the last round against Sporting and the Portuguese side should have scored 4-5 goals across the two games, they lost 1-0 in Turin despite dominating and were denied by 3-4 miracle saves from TWO goalkeepers (injury forcing a change at the break) .

 

Now Sevilla are the visitors and in the competition they love above all others. They have won this six times (2006, 07, 14,15,16 and 2020) and never made it even to the quarter final stage without taking the trophy home, an astonishing record. This is their only way back to the Champions League which they have competed in for the last three seasons and the money it brings is very addictive and becomes needed. After finishing 4th in each of the last three La Liga campaigns, they are struggling down in 11th this season, but that doesn't tell the full story, they sold key players last summer, started this season poorly ( bottom three winning just 2 of their first 15 games) and went into a tough CL group in bad shape. But they finished third in that section to qualify for the Europa League and saw off Manchester United in fine style in the quarter finals scoring five goals, two at Old Trafford.This competition has been their priority, but they have also collected 32 points from their last 18 league games to move into midtable safety and that is 5th place level and just a shade off 4th, so close to their "usual" position. Great credit to them for the way they have regrouped and they look to have gone up another level again since Jose Mendilibar took over as head coach in mid March, they have lost just once in 9 starts under him and scored freely, 2+ goals in seven of those. I expect them to score today and feel they are overpriced for the "upset" .

 

 

 

Good luck!