Juventus beat PSV earlier this season in their Champions League opener, but Thiago Motta expects a tough challenge in the play -offs.
Juve started the competition phase with a 3-1 victory on the Dutch side in September, but walked down in the last stages, finished 20th in the competition and needed a play-off to reach the last 16 of the competition.
That was their very first meeting with PSV in the big European competition, and Juventus has only lost three of their 15 games against Dutch opponents (D1 L4) in the Champions League/European Cup (W7 D5).
This season they have lost two of their four home games in the Champions League (W2); Juventus has never lost three or more of such games in one campaign in the competition.
In the meantime, PSV ended 14th after beating the top-of-the-table Liverpool, who had won all seven of their matches before that meeting, and Motta knows that Juventus has a fight.
“We played a good game against PSV at that time, but many things have changed, both here and there,” Motta said reporters prior to the first stage of Tuesday in Turin.
“[Tuesday] Is another story. [It] Is another game and we are aimed at doing our work well. We saw in the first stage that we had some very good moments in the game. We benefited from this and completed the actions that we had set up well.
“But at the same time we suffered from their death and possession. The arrival of the two full-backs, which came in very well from behind. The midfielders who can give the team a little more balance, but also give the team a lot of space. “
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Juventus suffered their first Serie A defeat in January and lost to Napoli, before he lost to Benfica in the Champions League, missed the chance to finish higher on the table.
While the Bianconeri won their two most recent matches, they were in second place on Friday in Como despite the 2-1 victory.
“We saw in the last game, even if it is not a good example, the resilience of this group has increased a lot,” Motta added.
“We are able to win a game without playing well. But that makes no sense at all. If an example is a positive point. You manage to win a game where you do not play better than you opponent.
“It's a positive point, but we know that that's not the way. [On Tuesday] We have to play a different type of game, a very complete game to compete against a strong team and win the victory. “
Juventus will have the French attacker Randal Kolo Muani available who, since his arrival on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, has scored five goals in three games. He scored in three games in a row in the Serie A (US Napoli, Empoli and Como.
That is his recent form, he has kept the top scorer of the team, Dusan Vlahovic, from the starting side.
“He and his teammates have done very well. This is a team where a single player is not going nowhere. Randal, just like everyone else, knows that very well,” said Motta.
“Everyone wants to play, and they know very well that it is important the quality of the minutes they play, not the number of minutes they play in a match or in a season.
“Dusan has done a lot so far. I am convinced that if he plays tomorrow, he will certainly help.”
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