Juve taking nothing for granted in Europa League

PARIS, Apr 2 (AFP): Juventus are theoretically only four matches away from a Europa League final date in their own Turin stadium.

But the runaway Italian league leaders are unlikely to go into Thursday's quarter-final first leg away against French club Lyon taking anything for granted.

That is especially the case after they suffered only their second league defeat in 31 matches at the hands of Napoli at the weekend. So Juve will be keen to make sure that 2-0 reverse does not signal the start of a slump.

Coach Antonio Conte sounded a warning after the visit to Napoli when he said: "There are tired legs in my squad, that's inevitable when you've been playing every three days and are unable to rotate due to injuries."

Having struggled to see off Italian rivals Fiorentina in the previous round, with the indefatigable Andrea Pirlo scoring the only goal in the second leg for a 2-1 aggregate victory, Juve will nonetheless start as favourites to book their berth in the last four.