Preview: Juventus vs Sassuolo
Preview: Juventus vs Sassuolo The Juventus Men's First Team hosts Sassuolo at the Allianz Stadium on Serie A Matchday 30, with kick-off scheduled for 20:45 on Saturday, 21 March. The Bianconeri most recently beat Udinese 1-0 away from home, whilst Sassuolo arrive in Turin off the back of defeats against Lazio and Bologna. Let’s get up to speed with the pre-match statistics ahead of Saturday evening's game.
Interesting Facts The last four Serie A encounters between Juventus and Sassuolo have been perfectly balanced, with two wins apiece; the Bianconeri have won the two most recent matches with an aggregate score of 6-0, whilst the Neroverdi won the two previous ones with a combined score of 5-2. Juventus are the team against whom Sassuolo have lost the most matches in Serie A – 16 out of a total of 23 (4W, 3D) – and the side against whom the Emilian side have conceded the most goals (55) in the top flight. Juventus have kept a clean sheet in their last two Serie A matches against Sassuolo, and prior to that, the Bianconeri had never recorded two consecutive clean sheets against the Neroverdi in the competition.
Juventus have scored through 18 different players in this league season, and in Europe’s top five leagues, only Napoli have more (19); the Bianconeri have not had more different scorers in a single season since 2011/12 (20 in that instance). Kenan Yildiz is the player who has been involved in the most goal-scoring opportunities (149) in Serie A this season, with 84 shots on goal and 65 chances created. Manuel Locatelli has completed 2,047 passes in this league season, more than any other player; among midfielders in the top five European leagues, only Vitinha (2,431) and Aleix García (2,474) have done better.
Opposition Focus One of Sassuolo’s three heaviest defeats in Serie A came against Juventus in 2018: 7-0, just as against Inter in both 2013 and 2014. Only one of Sassuolo’s four total victories against Juventus in Serie A has come away from home: the 2-1 win on 27 October 2021, thanks to goals from Davide Frattesi and Maxime Lopez. Manuel Locatelli, who scored his first Serie A goal against Sassuolo (while playing for Milan in October 2016), has played 96 matches for Sassuolo in the competition, scoring a total of six goals between 2018 and 2021.
Dusan Vlahovic has scored six goals against Sassuolo in Serie A; only against Cagliari (eight) has he scored more. Also, he has scored two braces in the two matches played at the Allianz Stadium against the Neroverdi. Armand Laurienté has provided seven assists in Serie A this season; only Federico Dimarco (14) has recorded more so far; the only Sassuolo player to have done better in a single Serie A season was Domenico Berardi, on four occasions (14 in 2021/22, 10 in both 2014/15 and 2019/20, and nine in 2016/17).