Spalletti convinced Juventus wins will come in Champions League after draw with Sporting

Luciano Spalletti believes Juventus “will win many games” if they play in the same manner they did against Sporting CP.

In Spalletti’s first home match and Champions League game in charge of Juve, the Serie A giants drew 1-1 against Sporting at the Allianz Stadium.

Dusan Vlahovic cancelled out Maxi Araujo’s opener, which was Sporting’s only shot on target in the match.

Juve, on the other hand, had as many as nine shots on target in a Champions League game for the first time since November 2021 (11 vs Zenit St Petersburg).

And Vlahovic became just the second player to have six or more shots on target in a Champions League game this season after Victor Osimhen (seven v Bodo/Glimt), while he was the first Juve player to have at least six shots on goal in a game on record (since 2003-04) in the competition.

Despite the failure to win leaving Juve in 23rd place in the 36-team standings on four points, Spalletti drew plenty of positives from the Bianconeri’s performance.

“Sporting are a very good team, because they play an attacking style of football, they like to keep possession and have a ferocious press,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.

“We had a complicated start, then this great reaction, we took the game in hand and deserved to take the lead, creating three or four good chances.

“At the start, we lost the ball too cheaply, weren’t clean enough in our passing, struggled under pressure, but in general after that, the team played well.

“What gives me confidence is that we have talented players with quality who can make the difference when taking men on.

“Dusan worked so hard throughout, too. We need to improve the speed of our passing, to circulate the ball and make the opponents move around.

“I still believe this is a strong team, I am convinced that if we continue with this spirit, we will win many games.”