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Juventus' journey home in the Europa League will include a stop in France.
Don't worry, it will be a planned one, not some kind of crazy mishap.
Following Friday's Europa League quarterfinal draw, Antonio Conte's side learned their fate — they'll be facing Olympique Lyonnais for the right to advance to the final four next month. The tie's first leg will be played on Thursday, April 3, in France with the return fixture being exactly a week later, April 10, at Juventus Stadium in Turin.
The complete field is below.
Lyon vs. Juventus
Az Alkmaar vs. Benfica
Basel vs. Valencia
Porto vs. Sevilla
As has been the case ever since they dropped down to the Europa League in December, Juventus are being tipped to win the whole thing no matter who they are going to be playing going forward.
Juve through with a narrow win at Fiorentina. That might be their toughest test in this comp. They're the best Europa side by miles.
— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) March 20, 2014
Maybe they'll check the Twitter machine and see this. Makes sense.
#Nedved: People may have us down as favourites but there are still many games to play. We’re only at the quarter-final stage. #UELdraw #UEL
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) March 21, 2014
Ah, Pavel. You're so modest.
Either way, Juventus playing the first leg in France is the better scenario to begin with. They get an away goal or two and a win, then it becomes that much more of an advantage for Conte. We saw what it did when Fiorentina bagged an away goal heading to Florence last round when Mario Gomez got the late equalizer at Juventus Stadium.
Maybe now they can flip the script in the quarterfinals. Well, the scoring away goals part. That'd be cool.
Just don't forget to bring the wine and cheese for the trip to France, okay? Thanks, guys.
