On 9 December 2025, Juventus left the NV Arena with a 5-0 win. Amalie Vangsgaard opened the scoring, Cristiana Girelli converted two penalties, and Tatiana Pinto and Paulina Krumbiegel completed the rout. The Italians went on to reach the knockout phase play-offs. St. Pölten finished the league phase without a win.
Eight and a half months later, the two clubs return to the same ground, but this time there are no three points to divide. The tie offers one place in the Champions League league phase. The losers will continue in the second qualifying round of the Women’s Europa Cup.
That previous meeting shows the gap that existed. The scale of the changes since then means it cannot serve as a map for Wednesday night’s match.
Only four starters from the 5-0 are still there
St. Pölten have retraced the Juventus line-up from that December night. Of the 11 players who started, only Estela Carbonell, Tatiana Pinto, Chiara Beccari and Eva Schatzer remain in the current squad. Add the substitutes who came on and two more names survive: Emma Stølen Godø and Martina Rosucci.
That is six of the 16 players used by Massimiliano Canzi. Vangsgaard has joined Aston Villa and Girelli is on loan at Bay FC. Viola Calligaris, Emma Kullberg and Lindsey Thomas left at the end of their contracts, while the overhaul has also reached the goalkeeping department, the coaching staff and the sporting structure.
Isaac Guerrero took charge in July. He was not appointed simply to rearrange inherited pieces: Juventus gave him a younger squad with different profiles and a much stronger Spanish influence. Julia Bartel arrived after playing for Atlético Madrid; Léa Khelifi joined from Nantes; Remina Chiba came from Eintracht Frankfurt; and Alba Redondo left Real Madrid after scoring 28 goals in 69 appearances.
Redondo and Chiba have needed only three competitive matches to take control of the attack. Together they have scored five of Juventus’s seven goals: Redondo found the net against Hammarby and Como, while Chiba struck twice against the Swedish side and sealed the cup win in Como.
A Juventus side that want to defend through possession
The most important change cannot be found in the transfer list. Martina Lenzini has described Guerrero’s approach as completely different both from what this team knew before and from the style usually associated with Italian football. The coach demands constant attacking movement, patient build-up and long spells in the opposition half.
Carbonell offered another detail during pre-season: the full-backs are free to move inside and exchange positions. The aim is to draw opponents out through possession and then attack the space that appears. It is not yet a finished mechanism, but it already forces St. Pölten to prepare for something different from the Juventus they faced in December.
The new Juventus have won all three of their competitive matches. They beat Torreense 2-1 and Hammarby 3-1 in the second round of Champions League qualifying before opening their Serie A Women’s Cup defence with a 2-0 victory away to Como.
The record is perfect, but the performances have not been unanswerable. Torreense scored in the 90th minute and hit the woodwork three times late on. Hammarby took the lead and held Juventus at 1-1 until extra time, when two Chiba goals finally decided the contest. Possession is already giving Guerrero’s side an identity; it has not yet removed the periods in which they lose control.
St. Pölten have learned how to survive
Laurent Fassotte’s side are also unbeaten this season. They began their league campaign with a 1-0 victory away to Austria Wien, the club that ended their run of ten consecutive titles in May. Wins over Altach, 3-0, and LASK, 2-0, followed. St. Pölten have nine points from three games and have yet to concede a domestic goal.
Europe has demanded a different kind of resilience. St. Pölten beat Young Boys 4-3 in the semi-final of their qualifying mini-tournament, then needed 120 minutes and a penalty shootout to eliminate Sporting CP. The match finished 1-1: Fanny Vágó scored in extra time, Telma Encarnação equalised, and Carina Schlüter helped secure a 4-1 shootout win before Jennifer Klein converted the decisive penalty.
That run carries a warning for Juventus. The Austrian side do not need to dominate for 90 minutes to keep a match alive. They have already survived a seven-goal contest against Young Boys and two hours without a lasting lead against Sporting. Schlüter has also kept three consecutive clean sheets in the league.
It carries a risk for St. Pölten too. Juventus have scored five of their seven competitive goals after half-time and needed extra time to get past Hammarby. If the hosts turn the first leg into another exercise in resistance, they will have to sustain it until the end, not merely withstand the first wave.
A fifth consecutive main phase against a new project
St. Pölten are attempting to come through qualifying for a fifth season in a row. That changes the hierarchy of the tie. Juventus have the greater budget and more individual quality, but they are not facing occasional visitors. The Austrians have found a route into the main competition in each of the past four campaigns, even when that stage has produced nights such as the 5-0 defeat.
Juventus are chasing something different. Guerrero is still building the team he wants to use in September, but he must reach September to continue that work inside the Champions League. His new signings have delivered and all three competitive games have ended in victory; two of them, however, remained unresolved until the 90th minute or beyond.
December’s result has not disappeared. It still explains why Juventus begin this tie from the stronger position. What it can no longer explain is how they intend to play or who will supply the goals.
St. Pölten are not welcoming back the team that scored five against them. They are welcoming back the club that scored five — and a team still discovering how much it can change.
St. Pölten vs Juventus: kick-off time and where to watch
The first leg will be played on Wednesday 26 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the NV Arena in Sankt Pölten.
Juventus will show the match free on Juventus Play and their official YouTube channel. In Austria, it will also be available free-to-air on ORF 1, with coverage beginning at 20:40 CEST, and on ORF ON.
Swiss referee Désirée Blanco will take charge. She will be assisted by Linda Schmid and Susanne Küng, with Leonora Ismaili serving as fourth official, according to UEFA’s official appointment.
The return leg will be played on Wednesday 2 September at 20:30 CEST (19:30 BST) at the Stadio La Marmora-Pozzo in Biella.
