Four starts, one goal… Juventus chief names the Spurs player he fears, and it’s a major surprise

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Tottenham Hotspur’s Fernando Llorente will face former club Juventus in the Champions League.

Juventus vice-president Pavel Nedved has told the club’s official website that he somewhat fears revenge from Tottenham Hotspur striker Fernando Llorente.

Italian champions Juve made it through their Champions League group with 11 points from a possible 18, but they could only finish second in their group, meaning they had to face a group winner in the last 16.

On Monday, Massimiliano Allegri’s men were drawn against Tottenham Hotspur, who blitzed through their group with five wins and a draw in their six group games.

Whilst Juve have been in two of the last three Champions League finals, they haven’t quite hit their usual heights this season, and there is a general belief that Spurs can pick up a win over Juventus across two legs.

With the likes of Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane at Mauricio Pochettino’s disposal, Spurs have players who can cause major damage to top European clubs – as they all did against Real Madrid earlier in the competition.

However, Juve may actually be fearing another Spurs player, given that striker Fernando Llorente used to play for the Turin giants, scoring 27 goals in 92 games during a two-year stint with the ‘Old Lady’.

Pavel Nedved

After the draw was made on Monday, Juventus vice-president Pavel Nedved told the club’s official website that he thinks Tottenham are a ‘very solid outfit’, and knows all about Llorente.

Nedved noted that Llorente scored against Juve for Sevilla two years ago, and hopes that he doesn’t exert a similar revenge this time around – meaning that whilst Llorente may be a bit-part player, having started only four games and scored just one goal in all competitions for Spurs, Juve and Nedved clearly fear his impact.

“They’re a very solid outfit with a great coach in Mauricio Pochettino, who manages to get the very best out of their attacking potential,” said Nedved. “They also have [Fernando] Llorente in their ranks, who we know very well from his two years at Juventus. We hope he won’t end up doing a number on us as he did for Sevilla two years ago,” he added.