Juventus have 11 Champions League debutants, plus their coach, Thiago Motta, but the former midfielder doesn’t seem bothered by his team’s lack of experience in the European competition.
Juventus will play their first Champions League game in nearly two years this evening, hosting PSV at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
The Bianconeri were eliminated in the group phase in 2022-23 and were banned from European competitions last term.
Tonight, they host PSV with a young and partially inexperienced team in the competition.
Juventus have 11 Champions League debutants, plus Thiago Motta
As highlighted by Sky Sport Italia, 11 players in the current team have never played in Europe’s elite competition.
Many of those are new signings like Michele Di Gregorio, who joined the team from Monza this summer, Nico Gonzalez, Douglas Luiz, Juan Cabal and Vasilije Adzic.
Others are products of the club’s academy: Jonas Rouhi, Nicolò Savona, Samuel Mbangula and Kenan Yildiz.
Italy international Andrea Cambiaso and experienced goalkeeper Carlo Pinsoglio haven’t yet made an appearance in Europe’s elite competition.
Thiago Motta, a former midfielder for Barcelona, PSG and Inter, lifted the trophy in 2010 as a footballer with the Nerazzurri, making 82 appearances in the competition.
However, the PSV game will be his first one as a coach in the Champions League. Motta qualified for Europe’s elite competition last season at Bologna, allowing the Rossoblu to play in the tournament for the first time in 60 years.
Motta didn’t seem worried by his team’s lack of experience on Monday when he said at a press conference that “everything counts in football: experience, desire, technique, physicality and determination.”
