Former Juventus man Gianluca Pessotto has admitted the Bianconeri are facing a tough test in the next round of the Europa League after being drawn against Sporting Lisbon.

The black and whites are among the favourites to win the competition this season, having dropped from the Champions League.

Sporting was also in the Champions League at the group stages and stunned Arsenal on Thursday to eliminate the English league leaders in London.

The Portuguese side has one of the highly rated young managers in the game and they are a bunch of talented players who are mostly young.

Speaking about the draw, Pessotto said via Football Italia:

“It will be a nice game, surely against a strong opponent. They proved it yesterday, eliminating Arsenal, one of the contenders for the victory. Sporting also come from the Champions League, so they’ll be willing to do well, like us.

“The feeling is that it was a tough draw. Sporting are a young and strong team, they are in a good moment even if they are behind Benfica in the league. If we go ahead, we’ll meet Manchester United or Sevilla who are also strong but we are Juventus so we must fight until the end. Our opponents are surely worried as well.”

Juve FC Says

Juventus has one of the finest squads left in the Europa League and we have done well since we dropped down to the competition.

However, Sporting will be the toughest opponents we face yet and we must move gears upward to eliminate them.

They showed in the win against Arsenal that they have what it takes to cause upsets and we must guard against complacency.