Everyone is betting on Cristiano Ronaldo.
"Returning to his Portugal will be a source of pride for him because he will want to show who CR7 is again", says his coach, Andrea Pirlo;
"It is fortunate to be able to train with him to understand the secrets that have led him to be the championship he has become: tomorrow he will play at his home, he will have even more incentives to do well and score goals", echoes the Juventus captain. , Giorgio Chiellini.
And the Portuguese himself uploads himself to social media: "In the last two years we have returned home earlier than we wanted, but during each season we aim higher and this year is no exception: it will be a very important match against a strong team and I hope that it could be the beginning of the long journey up to the final "writes the Juventus 7 on Instagram.
The seven goals scored by Juve from the second round onwards in the last two seasons, so ever since he landed in Italy, they have always been signed by CR7.
Last year Juve stopped right in the first knockout round against a decidedly less accredited team for the passage of the round, Rudi Garcia's Lyon, the year before they had had to make the feat of overturning the defeat in Madrid ( 0-2) against Atletico thanks to CR7's hat-trick at the Allianz Stadum: "We must not make the mistakes of the last two seasons against Atletico Madrid and Lyon, those matches serve as a lesson and tomorrow we will play a different game compared to the last round of 16. we played - Chiellini's promise - because I feel good vibrations, there is a great desire to take the field ".
At the time Pirlo hadn't even started coaching yet, yet he knows the Champions League and the knockout phase very well: "It has a particular flavor, especially from the second round onwards because an adrenaline rises that allows you to push yourself to do anything. - the sensations of the coach at his first benches at these international levels - and I would like to take the field to lend a hand to my boys: they are better than me, from this point of view I am calm and great clarity will be needed because we play on 180 minutes, tomorrow will not be decisive ".
In front of Porto, the second classified in the preliminary rounds that everyone would have liked: "They remind me so much of Simeone's Atletico Madrid, so we will have to pay great attention and have a lot of patience - the comparison of the Juventus coach on the opponents tomorrow night at Do Dragao and next March 9 at the Allianz Stadium - so as not to expose ourselves to their counterattacks: they are a solid team, many times they have managed not to concede a goal in this edition of the Champions League.
The main doubt about the formation of the bianconeri concerns Ronaldo's partner who will come out of the usual ballot Morata-Kulusevski, Ramsey returns while in addition to Arthur and Cuadrado there will not even be Dybala and Bonucci: "They will come with us in Portugal anyway, they want to stay close to the team and we will evaluate them: I hope the Argentine is our January purchase, we need his goals so much. "
In defense, therefore, De Ligt and Demiral compete to support Chiellini, while the two great ex of the challenge, Alex Sandro and Danilo, already mates at Porto between 2012 and 2015, will act on the outside.
Probable formations of Porto-Juventus, first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League (tomorrow, at 21, Estadio do Dragao).
Porto (4-3-3): 1 Marchesín;
18 Manafá, 3 Pepe, 19 Mbemba, 12 Zaidu;
27 Sérgio Oliveira, 8 Uribe, 25 Otávio;
17 Corona, 11 Marega, 7 Díaz.
(14 Ramos, 99 Costa, 4 Leite, 15 Carraça, 32 Sarr, 6 Loum, 16 Grujic, 28 Anderson, 9 Taremi, 29 Martinez, 85 Conceiçao).
Herdsman: Conceiçao.
Disqualified: none.
Be wary: none.
Unavailable: Mbaye, Nanu.
Juventus (4-4-2): 1 Szczesny;
13 Danilo, 4 De Ligt, 3 Chiellini, 12 Alex Sandro;
14 McKennie, 30 Bentancur, 25 Rabiot, 22 Church;
7 C. Ronaldo, 9 Morata.
(77 Buffon, 31 Pinsoglio, 8 Ramsey, 28 Demiral, 33 Bernardeschi, 36 Di Pardo, 38 Frabotta, 41 Fagioli, 44 Kulusevski).
Coach: Pirlo.
Disqualified: none.
Be wary: Bentancur, Cuadrado, Danilo.
Unavailable: Arthur, Bonucci, Cuadrado, Dybala.
Referee: Del Cerro Grande (Spain).
Snai odds: 3.85;
3.10;
2.10.
