Giorgio Chiellini realises there is still hard work ahead for Juventus

Juve are in a sticky patch in Serie A and this was another unconvincing performance but Mario Mandzukic's 84th-minute header earned them a potentially crucial 2-1 victory in Turin.

Both teams have already lost to Juventus in Group D and appear to be fighting it out for second spot.

They will do battle again in Lisbon in two weeks' time, but this result gives Juve the upper hand.

Chiellini said on uefa.com: "I t was a tough game but we knew it would be, because Sporting are a very good side.

"We earned three important points and now everything will be decided in Lisbon - we are ready for it.

"We didn't want to concede goals but I'm happy that we reacted well, showing that we wanted these three points until the final whistle. Right now we have to improve many things, we are not as balanced as we were in the past, but we have time to grow."

Juventus have reached the Champions League final in two of the last three seasons and this was another case of so near and yet so far for Sporting against one of the European giants.

They lost narrowly to Barcelona last month while last season they came up just short four times against Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.

Sporting took the lead in Turin through an Alex Sandro own goal and restricted Juve to few clear-cut chances, aside from Miralem Pjanic's fine equalising free-kick, prior to Mandzukic's late header.

Manager Jorge Jesus said: " Teams like Juventus have players who give off that 'feeling' that they can be decisive at crucial moments, and that's how it was.

"The result wasn't positive for us here, but once more Sporting demonstrated to the world that in a one-off game against one of the best teams in the world, we were not inferior. We are not out of this (tournament) yet.

"In the second half there were moments where we had more possession than Juventus and when I thought we could win the game.

"Obviously with a better result we would leave here in a more upbeat frame of mind but we still have an eliminator to play against Juventus in Lisbon."