- Juve scored 3, 3 and 3 goals in three of their last five competitive matches before the break.
- Torreense have won three major cups in Portugal over the last 12 months.
- Juve will be without striker Cristiana Girelli for the month of August.
Juve too short, Torreense too long for a tough UWCL qualifier
Juventus FC (W) and Torreense (W) have never faced each other competitively, so this all-female UEFA Women's Champions League qualification tie begins with a blank sheet of paper.
Gonçalo Nunes has developed Torreense into a compact, organised and pro-active cup side over the past 12 months. They won the Taça da Liga, the Taça de Portugal and the Supertaça in the 2025-26 domestic cycle in Portugal. A fourth-place finish in the 2025-26 Campeonato Nacional Feminino season in Portugal, when you have won three cups, isn't a bad thing, because it is a huge platform to launch this European campaign from.
Torreense's Portuguese cup run last season was all about late drama and nerve-shredding finishes. They still went on to beat Sporting CP 2-1 in extra time in the final of the Portuguese Cup last June, so this side is built to dig in and come back. Nunes' side will rely on Salomé Prat and Janaína Weimer to provide the drama, but the steel and structure provided by Bárbara Lopes and Carolina Correia at the back and in the engine room has been crucial.
Juve will look to Barbara Bonansea, Vittoria Beccari and Valentina Cambiaghi to take the game by the throat in the first leg as they don't have striker Cristiana Girelli - who is on loan until the end of August. The Old Lady will need to ensure they get some joy from the wings as they are set to play in their usual 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 systems that will allow them to control territory, but Torreense will sit back and clog the centre and play vertical passes in transition to catch Juve off guard.
Juve to edge it
Isaac Guerrero, Juve's new head coach, has a Barcelona-methodology, so expect possession, rotation and more structured attacking patterns. The home side arrive off the back of a mixed, but dangerous, finish to the 2025-26 domestic season in Serie A and the Coppa Italia. They lost both games 0-1 to Roma, so they can be clipped in tight, tight games.
Juve are 7/50 to win this match, which is far shorter than the 11/2 draw. Under 2.5 goals at 11/5 is probably the way to go here as opposed to both teams to score, which is at 11/4 for Yes and 11/20 for No, but the likeliest outcome is a tight Juventus win, 1-0 or 2-0, with the Old Lady more likely to control the match and keep the UEFA path alive.
