 |
| Goalkeeper Mark Flekken of SC Freiburg and head coach Christian Streich of SC Freiburg gestures during the Friendly match between SC Freiburg and FC Basel at Estadio Municipalon January 7, 2023 in San Pedro De Alcantara, Spain. |
FREIBURG coach Christian Streich sees all the pressure piled on Juventus in the Europa League and hits out at their European Super League plans. ‘Big clubs ought to look after their current finances better.’
The first leg of the Europa League Round of 16 tie kicks off at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin on Thursday at 20.00 GMT.
“Juventus are the favourites, so people in Italy and in Turin expect Juve to go forward in the competition, but nothing is to be taken for granted in football,” said Streich in his press conference.
“We are coming here to get a good result, to play good football and tomorrow we’ll see how the first part of this tie goes. We need the capacity to defend in a proactive way and courage when we have the ball so that we can push forward.”
Max Allegri had of course hoped to be in the Champions League at this stage of the season, but dropped down into the Europa League after finishing third in the group stage.
“I saw many of his games and many different Juventus teams over the years. It is fantastic for us to be playing at this level. Juve won in the derby, they lost to Roma, but I think will be concentrated and aggressive for this match.
“The pressure will be on them, as winning the Europa League has to be an objective. Their fans expect a home win, but we’ll try to make it as difficult as possible.”
Streich hit the headlines a few days ago with his bitter criticism of the European Super League, a project that only Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid are still trying to propel forward.
“I am convinced that some big clubs ought to look after their current finances better and be more organised to avoid financial turbulence. There are big clubs who are not in a good financial situation and they need to sort themselves out.
“When a small club gets into financial trouble, the end is near. The big teams ought to focus on solidity rather than getting lost in unrealistic fantasies.”
Former Juventus President Andrea Agnelli continues to insist football cannot survive in the current climate without setting up a new Super League separate from UEFA.
It comes after announcing record losses for the financial year and seeing many clubs abandon the previous Super League project.
