Juventus Vs Sporting CP [1–1] – Champions League 2025/2026: Early Signs Of Luciano Spalletti Rebuild – Tactical Analysis

Juventus met Sporting CP for the fourth fixture of the UEFA Champions League in a game that ended with a 1-1 draw.

The draw can be considered positive for Sporting CP, as the Portuguese side was able to secure one point from a complicated away game, despite being capable of adding a second winning goal as well.

What makes the draw not as painful as it could’ve been for Juve is the fact that Sporting Lisbon have won two games and lost only one, which has allowed them to reach seven points so far.

We cannot say the same for Juventus, as the draw complicates their situation further.

Juventus have yet to win a Champions League game, with one loss and two draws, before adding another draw against Sporting to reach three points overall.

That said, the Juventus performance was convincing since it witnessed a remarkable improvement and changes compared to their latest games, and that is what keeps the fans optimistic about I Bianconeri’s European and domestic journey this season.

In this tactical analysis of the match between Juventus vs Sporting CP, the aim is to explore the impact of new head coach Luciano Spalletti on the team and his most notable tactical changes.

The analysis will look mainly at Teun Koopmeiners’ change of position, Dušan Vlahović’s heavy presence inside the box, and Francisco Conceição’s remarkable contribution in playmaking.

Juventus Vs Sporting CP Formations & Lineups

Spalletti started the match using the 3-4-2-1 formation, with Michele Di Gregorio as the goalkeeper, and Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti, and Koopmeiners as centre-backs.

The midfield consisted of Manuel Locatelli and Khéphren Thuram as central midfielders, with both Weston McKennie and Andrea Cambiaso as wing-backs.

Up front, Juventus attacked with both Conceição and Yıldız as advanced playmakers who switched to become wingers whenever needed, with Vlahović as the main striker.

For Sporting CP, Rui Borges used a 4-2-3-1 formation with Rui Silva as the goalkeeper, Georgios Vagiannidis as the right-back, Ousmane Diomande and Gonçalo Inácio as centre-backs, and Maximiliano Araújo as the left-back.

The midfield was composed of João Simões and Morten Hjulmand as central midfielders, with both Geovany Quenda and Pedro Gonçalves as wingers, Francisco Trincão as an advanced playmaker, and Fotis Ioannidis as the team’s main striker.

Teun Koopmeiners Vs Sporting CP

Teun Koopmeiners In Defence 

Spalletti made a surprising tactical change for his second match with Juventus by switching Koopmeiners’ position from midfield to defence.

This was a risky yet intelligent move that saw the Dutch international take on entirely different roles from those he was accustomed to.

Koopmeiners has already played in defensive positions previously with AZ Alkmaar, including the left centre-back one, back in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

Despite that, changing Koopmeiners’ position was still risky because it had been a long time since he played in a defensive position.

However, since Spalletti tactics started relying on other names, such as Locatelli and Thuram, for the midfield duo and already knows that there will be few chances to use Koopmeiners regularly in midfield, he prefers to utilize him in a more defensive position, thereby benefiting from his playmaking abilities.

Spalletti also believes that Koopmeiners is better suited for a defensive position, as he could be very useful in the build-up phase and in the vertical passing strategy that Spalletti wants to intensify within the team’s playing style.

Therefore, putting him on the left side of defence helps exploit his vision and passing techniques to guarantee accurate build-up from the back and vertical through passes that break lines as well.

This was a recurring issue against Sporting CP, as Koopmeiners succeeded in finding dangerous passing trajectories that led to dangerous actions.

In fact, playing as a regista while being a left defender allowed Koopmeiners to have a better view of the pitch and his surroundings, along with less pressure and more time when receiving the ball, compared to when playing as a midfielder.

This enabled Koopmeiners to provide some key passes, making his impact very valuable in this match and potentially increasing the value of Koopmeiners’ contribution in playmaking going forward.

In the possession phase, Koopmeiners was often deployed as a left midfielder or left-back, favouring the left flank and providing key passes into space at the back of the defensive line.

This was very useful for Juventus as it freed up Cambiaso and Thuram from such duties and allowed the whole team to have more players advancing to create numerical superiority inside the opponent’s third.

Teun Koopmeiners Vertical Passing

The following picture showcases one of Koopmeiners’ recurring vertical passes that made the difference for Juventus, creating goal-scoring opportunities for them.

With 25 forward passes and nine passes to the final third, reaching a success rate of 78%, Koopmeiners confirmed that his vertical passing can be very useful for Juventus.

The following pass creates the opportunity needed for Cambiaso to exploit that space and be in a position that allows him to provide a final pass.

Teun Koopmeiners Chance Creation As A Defender

Soon after this chance, Koopmeiners was once again the source of a Juventus action that was concluded inside the net.

During this equalising goal action, Koopmeiners did not hesitate to provide the vertical pass to Yıldız, instead of opting for the easier solution, which would have been a simple pass to Cambiaso.

What makes the action even more interesting is the excellent movement without the ball from Cambiaso, which frees the passing trajectory for Koopmeiners by attracting the direct opponent.

This allows Yıldız to receive the ball with only one defender disturbing him, before quickly finding a passing option offered by Thuram, who makes the intelligent run without the ball at the back of Yıldız.

This sort of unorthodox overlap allows Thuram to find himself with the ball while having a lot of space in front of him, which invites him to continue his run and cross the ball to Vlahović, who finishes inside the net.

However, Spalletti can build on Koopmeiners’ vertical passing and train the team to intensify the triangular passes and movements without the ball as soon as such passes are made.

Similar plans can make Juventus’ playmaking phase much more dangerous and successful going forward, with a style that resembles what Spalletti achieved with Napoli.

And with more rapidity in passing, less controlling of the ball, and more key movements without the ball, Spalletti can succeed in his mission of making Juventus’ build-up and playmaking processes much more effective, as that’s already one of the areas that he is focusing on improving.

Teun Koompeiners Defensive Risks & Solutions

Defensively, the risk lies in Koompeiners’ defensive positioning and their ability to win duels against powerful wingers.

Against Sporting CP, Koompeiners demonstrated his reliability in this regard, as he was mostly capable of moving well without the ball, winning four out of four defensive duels, making four interceptions, and securing 12 recoveries.

Koompeiners looked in control during most of his defensive actions.

Nevertheless, the risk remains obvious and may lead to mistakes when facing quicker and more dangerous wingers.

The main reason for this risk is that Koompeiners is not a quick player, even though he relies on his tactical awareness and anticipation of opponents’ actions and movements to compensate for his lack of agility and pace.

To alleviate these risks, Spalletti instructed Cambiaso to strictly retreat whenever needed to cover for Koopmeiners and ensure numerical superiority on that left flank.

By continuing to do so during the upcoming games, Spalletti would ensure a powerful left flank in both the defensive and attacking phases.

The following picture highlights the cooperation and support between both Koompeiners and Cambiaso, as the latter offered a passing option as soon as he saw Koompeiners protecting the ball and starting to look for passing possibilities.

The beginning of the action also showcases Koompeiners’ ability to effectively rely on his anticipatory actions to win defensive duels, knowing that he anticipates the opponent’s ball control of the received pass in order to win the ball by positioning his body to protect it.

Juventus Attacking Positives & Negatives

Juventus were absent attacking-wise from the start of the match until the moment when they conceded a shot that hit the crossbar.

From that moment on, I Bianconeri transformed into a much more dangerous team from an attacking perspective, creating numerous dangerous chances and reaching Sporting CP’s penalty box with ease.

This happened due to several reasons, most notably the attacking organisation that the team relied on for this match, with Vlahović as the main striker and both Yıldız and Conceição being very flexible in terms of movement.

Both Yıldız and Conceição alternated between playing on the wings and positioning themselves internally when needed to play as playmakers.

This helped Vlahović receive considerable support upfront, whether through crosses or passes.

The Francisco Conceição Crossing Solution

One of the key solutions that Juventus relied on during this match in a recurrent way was Conceição’s dangerous crosses from the right wing.

Conceição showed excellent abilities in surpassing his direct marker each time while cutting inside and aiming for dangerous crosses towards the far post.

The plan was to find a passing header to the centre of the box, where one of the attacking players would finish the action.

It is true that Juventus did not score goals thanks to this plan; yet, they came so close to doing so, and the plan proved its efficiency.

More importantly, it highlighted the importance of having an agile and technical winger like Conceição in the starting lineup, providing more concrete and consistent attacking solutions from the right wing.

This picture showcases Conceição’s created danger from the right-wing and his ability to provide accurate crosses that need to be better exploited in the future if Juventus want to be more decisive inside the box.

In fact, Juventus attempted such solutions in both open play and from set pieces.

They applied the same Conceição crossing to the far post plan by pretending to execute the free kick directly, but then providing a pass to Conceição, who would then go for the cross.

The plan worked relatively well since most of these Conceição’s crosses reached Juventus’ headers on the far post.

However, we cannot say that the plan was successful mainly because not all the headers’ passes were as accurate as needed.

And even when some of them were accurate, the potential receiver did not make the necessary anticipatory movement to reach it.

This is the area where Juventus and Spalletti should work on improving to make the plan more beneficial for the team.

In this case, for instance, Yıldız failed to provide an accurate header to Gatti, who was well-positioned to receive the pass.

Dušan Vlahović Heavy Presence Inside The Box

In addition to that crossing-based plan, Vlahović delivered one of his best performances of the season and provided the team with numerous solutions up front.

Thanks to his anticipatory off-the-ball movement and quick reflexes, in addition to using his physical strength to win offensive duels, Vlahović created a lot of issues for Sporting CP’s defence and helped Juventus be extremely dangerous inside the box.

Apart from the goal action, Vlahović could have scored other goals but failed to do so, sometimes due to poor finishing or goalkeeper saves, and sometimes due to the recurrent lack of chemistry and understanding regarding passing with Yıldız.

However, despite this, Vlahović had a stellar performance and was capable of making the difference, whether with ball progressions and shots or with intelligent movements that led to anticipating defenders and finishing.

The goal action highlights Vlahović’s efforts and his excellent run of form, which is nearing its peak during this match.

As the picture shows, Vlahović was anticipatory and instinctive enough to predict his marker’s retreating path and move in a completely different interval, exploiting the fact that the defender was running with his back to Vlahović.

This enabled Vlahović to reach the box in a perfect position at the time when Thuram was about to provide him the final pass, allowing himself to finish without disturbance.

Conclusion

Juventus performed much better than in the previous encounters under the management of the previous head coach.

The starting player choices and the change in playing style, which relied on quicker passing and more consistent movements without the ball, helped Juventus perform much better and create more goal-scoring chances.

Although the result was not favourable for Juventus, the team looks to be on the right track, and Spalletti should continue to improve the team’s performances by avoiding negative starts and alternating the attacking plans even more to succeed in qualifying for the knockout phase play-offs.