Paul Pogba's fitness will be assessed ahead of Juventus' Europa League meeting with Freiburg on Thursday, with the midfielder still eyeing his first start since his Bianconeri return.
Pogba made his long-awaited second Juve debut in a 4-2 win over cross-city rivals Torino last month after enduring several injury setbacks since re-joining from Manchester United last July.
Having appeared from the bench in that fixture, the France international did likewise in Sunday's demoralising 1-0 defeat at Roma in Serie A.
Asked if Pogba could make his first start of the season when Juventus host Freiburg in the first leg of their last-16 tie, boss Massimiliano Allegri was hopeful but uncertain.
Allegri said: "Yesterday [Tuesday] he did a good workout, today [Wednesday] he was separate from the group. Tomorrow [Thursday] morning we'll understand if he can be available.
"He didn't work with the team [on Wednesday]. I think he will be available, but we'll see."
An Angel Di Maria hat-trick fired Juve past Nantes in the last round of the competition, delivering a 3-0 away win after the Bianconeri toiled to a 1-1 draw at home to the French side.
With Freiburg one of just three teams to go unbeaten in the Europa League's group stage this term (also Real Betis and Fenerbahce), Allegri is aware of the need for an improved home display.
"We want to lay the foundations for the second leg," he said. "They are physically strong, they are fifth in Germany, they are unbeaten in Europe.
"We have to go back to winning at home – in the Champions League and in the Europa League we only got one win [at the Allianz Stadium this season].
"So we'll need attention, otherwise we'll have to do the same as against Nantes. We have to win on Thursday, whether it's by one or two goals – it won't be easy, it will be balanced."
Juventus will be able to draw on the experience of Filip Kostic, a Europa League winner with Eintracht Frankfurt last season, and the Serbian says lifting Europe's secondary club trophy is now the team's foremost aim.
"I know the competition, I won it with Eintracht – it was our dream to win the Europa League. With Juventus it's different, the goals were different, but now we want to win it," Kostic said.
"They are a tough, compact, solid opponent. To win this Europa League – which is our main objective – we will have to overcome them. We want to get as far as possible and we go game by game."
Bayer Leverkusen deserve treble, says Xabi Alonso after Roma late show
Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso said his team deserve to win all three trophies available to them this season after they qualified for the Europa League final by seeing off Roma on Thursday.
Leverkusen, who have already wrapped up the Bundesliga title and will contest the DFB-Pokal final on May 25, stretched their unbeaten run through all competitions this season to 49 matches, surpassing Benfica's long-standing European top-tier record set between 1963 and 1965.
Once again, they did it the hard way after two Leandro Paredes penalties wiped out their first-leg advantage, with a Gianluca Mancini own goal and a stoppage-time strike from Josip Stanisic completing a dramatic comeback.
Following their 4-2 aggregate victory, Roma will face Atalanta in the May 22 final in Dublin, after La Dea overcame Marseille 4-1 on aggregate in the other semi-final.
"We'll play two finals in a week as a result," Alonso said. "We showed great character today after their second goal.
"I looked my players in the eye afterwards and saw that they wanted more.
"We still have the chance to win three titles, and my boys deserve all three titles."
Despite going 3-2 up on aggregate when Mancini put through his own net, Leverkusen refused to sit back as they looked to preserve their unbeaten record, which they did through Stanisic's 97th-minute strike.
Asked whether that goal was one of the biggest moments of his career, the Bayern Munich loanee said: "Definitely one of them.
"We knew what was at stake, we really wanted to get to the final and I think you could see that over 90 minutes today.
"I don't think we would have cared in the end if we lost and still progressed because we really wanted to get to the final, but it's even nicer this way."
For Roma, the chance to reach a second straight Europa League final after last season's defeat by Sevilla on penalties slipped away in the dying minutes of the match.
"When you manage to get it back from 2-0 down and go close to the miracle, knowing nobody has ever beaten them this season, it hurts to see us concede a goal like that. It hurts," Roma boss Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
Columbus Crew v FC Cincinnati: Nancy not looking to set limits after reaching Champions Cup final
Wilfried Nancy questioned why limits should be placed upon his Columbus Crew side after they reached the CONCACAF Champions Cup final.
Having taken a narrow 2-1 lead into the second and away leg, Columbus then impressively won 3-1 in Monterrey to secure their place in the final against Pachuca in June.
Columbus are also sitting fifth in the MLS' Eastern Conference, and Nancy believes his side can keep pushing the boundaries of their potential.
"For me, this is about trying to be limitless, and this value for me is so important," Nancy told reporters. "Why are we going to put limits on what we do?"
Nancy's men turn their attentions back to domestic football this weekend, hosting FC Cincinnati on Saturday.
Cincinnati are flying themselves having rattled off three straight MLS victories to leave them second in the East and three points behind leaders Inter Miami with a game in hand.
Despite winning 1-0 at Orlando City last time out, Noonan was not impressed with his side's showing, saying: "I don't think anybody in there is doing cartwheels because of their, and our, performance.
"We won a game on the road and did things well enough to get a win, but didn't perform anywhere near what we know we're capable of.
"Hopefully, we use this as a chance to learn a little bit about ourselves and grow from it and then hopefully, have a good week and a strong performance in Columbus."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Columbus Crew – Cucho Hernandez
Hernandez leads the Crew for goals so far this season, netting four times in eight appearances. His tally is twice as many as his team-mates have managed, and Hernandez looks the most likely to lead his team's attacking threat this Saturday.
FC Cincinnati – Luciano Acosta
Acosta scored 17 seconds into Cincinnati’s 1-0 win over Orlando last weekend. It was the earliest goal ever scored in a 1-0 win in MLS history, and if his team are to pick up three points again this weekend, another fast start from Acosta could prove helpful.
MATCH PREDICTION – COLUMBUS CREW WIN
Columbus have lost only two of their 13 all-time MLS meetings with Cincinnati (seven wins, four draws), including winning the last two in a row. The Crew have scored multiple goals in 11 of those 13 matches, including each of the last seven in a row (incl. playoffs).
Cincinnati, meanwhile, have won three straight matches in all competitions for the first time since a four-match winning run in May-June last season. Two of those wins have come on the road with Cincinnati winning seven of their last 11 away matches in all competitions dating back to last September.
Columbus are unbeaten in 27 consecutive home matches in all competitions dating back over a year, though, with only two longer home unbeaten streaks in all competitions by an MLS club before, and they look the favourites to claim victory on Saturday.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Columbus – 52.5%
Cincinnati – 21.2%
Draw – 26.3%
New York Red Bulls v New England Revolution: Porter urges visitors to focus on their own game
New England Revolution head coach Caleb Porter wants his team to focus on their own game as they prepare to face the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
The Revs sit bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with just seven points, though they ended a three-match losing run with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Red Bulls sit in fourth, though they are winless in their last four outings after last week's 6-2 thrashing at the hands of a Lionel Messi-inspired Inter Miami.
Asked how he would prepare to face a side coming off the back of such a heavy defeat, Porter turned the focus back to his own team, saying: "I think we have to be more focused on our mentality.
"That was, last week, a point of emphasis: ‘Let’s work on our execution.’ In the game of football, if you do what you want to do, that's half the equation or more, and I thought we did that in the latter stages of the first half and the entire second half, and I think that was a big reason we won the game."
Youngster Esmir Bajraktarevic echoed his coach’s thoughts, noting how the Revs have caused some of their own problems this season.
He said: "I think the main thing is just playing our game. I think when you look back at most of our games, it's kind of us beating ourselves rather than the other way around.
"So, it's kind of just making sure that we're doing the best that we can, and the results will come."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
New York Red Bulls – Dante Vanzeir
Vanzeir recorded his eighth goal contribution of the season with the opening goal against Inter Miami on Saturday, the joint-most for the team this season with Lewis Morgan.
Only one player, Fabio in 2021, has recorded eight or more goal involvements in the Red Bulls’ first 11 matches of a season between 2019 and 2023.
New England Revolution – Tomas Chancalay
Chancalay scored the lone goal in New England’s win over Chicago Fire last Saturday. Since his debut last April, he has scored more MLS goals than any other Revs player, netting eight.
MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK RED BULLS WIN
The Red Bulls have lost only one of their last 19 regular-season home matches against New England (12 wins, six draws) dating back to September 2007 – a 3-2 defeat in July 2021 – scoring at least once in all 19 games.
Indeed, the Red Bulls are unbeaten in seven straight home matches in all competitions (four wins, three draws) including last season’s playoffs. New York, who have two wins and two draws on their own turf this year, haven’t started a season unbeaten in their first five home games since 2017.
However, New England ended a 17-match away winless streak in MLS play (incl. playoffs) with a 1-0 win over Chicago Fire on Saturday. The Revs have only won consecutive games on the road once since the start of the 2022 season, doing so in May-June 2022.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
New York Red Bulls – 44.4%
Draw – 28.7%
New England Revolution – 26.9%
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