UEFA Champions League preview: Juventus vs Bayern Munich

Last night saw the advances of Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at the expense of Galatasaray and Malaga after 90 scintillating, exciting minutes of end-to-end football. If last night is anything to go by, tonight should be an excellent visual feast. What makes this Wednesday’s game even more appetising is seeing Juventus and Bayern Munich lock horns at the Juventus Arena tonight.

Munich are leading 2-0 from the first leg, with goals from David Alaba and Thomas Muller as rewards for their dominant performance in Bavaria. Much has changed for both sides since that night in Munich, and tonight’s game in Turin is expected to live up to the glorious games of the past.

Form

Juventus: WLWWW

06/04/2013: Pescara, 2-1 (H), Italian Serie A

02/04/2013: Bayern Munich, 0-2 (A), UEFA Champions League

30/03/2013: Internazionale Milano, 2-1 (A), Italian Serie A

16/03/2013: Bologna, 2-0 (A), Italian Serie A

10/03/2013: Catania, 1-0 (H), Italian Serie A

Juventus put in a very gutsy performance on the road at Internazionale, beating the Nerrazzuri 2-1 in Milan. But now they need to put in a performance similar to that at home if they are to beat the already confirmed German league champions. In fact, that loss in Germany was the only fillip in their last five games, having not dropped points in Italy since this day last month.

Unbeaten domestically since the 24th of February, Juventus will be hoping they take their league form into Europe. Wins against Pescara and Bologna on their travels – not necessary difficult teams to face but definitely potential banana skins – shows their abilities on the road.

The game against Pescara was Juve’s only home game since the tenth of March. Tonight, home comforts will surely aid Juventus in their quest to qualify for the semi-finals of this season’s Champions League.

Bayern Munich: WWWWL

06/04/2013: Eintracht Frankfurt, 1-0 (A), German Bundesliga

02/04/2013: Juventus FC, 2-0 (H), UEFA Champions League

30/03/2013: Hamburg SV, 9-2 (H), German Bundesliga

16/03/2013: Bayer Leverkusen, 2-1 (A), German Bundesliga

13/03/2013: Arsenal, 0-2 (H), UEFA Champions League

The form of the newly crowned German champions mirrors those of their opponents tonight and while nobody is glad to see a blip in an otherwise pristine form sheet, Bayern will be glad they suffered that loss at home to Arsenal. In the end, the Roten progressed on away goals and their experiences from what could have been a lot more humiliating than just a 2-0 defeat at the Allianz Arena will leave them much the wiser.

They now know that they cannot allow themselves to become complacent and that characteristic (or rather avoiding it) will surely take centre-stage now. What would make that sense of complacency appear faster this time is not just their two home goals, but the fact that they have won the German Bundesliga in record time.

Team News

Juventus

The Bianconeri’s defensive duo of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Arturo Vidal are banned after first-leg bookings.

Both Sebastian Giovinco, who suffered a right knee injury against Pescara, and Nicolas Anelka (calf) are sidelined.

Gianluigi Buffon is expected to recover from illness that sideline him for last Saturday’s game. Uruguayan defender Martín Cáceres is back in contention for a place in the starting lineup after a car accident on 17 March.

The wing duo of Simone Pepe and Mauricio Isla are both out for the long term, as is striker Nicklas Bendtner.

Squad (from): Gianluigi Buffon (captain), Giorgio Chiellini, Martín Cáceres, Paul Pogba, Claudio Marchisio, Mirko Vu?ini?, Paolo De Ceglie, Federico Peluso, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Simone Padoin, Andrea Pirlo, Kwadwo Asamoah, Emanuele Giaccherini, Fabio Quagliarella, Marco Storari, Lauren?iu Br?nescu, Alessandro Matri, Rubinho, Luca Marrone

Probable Starting XI: Buffon; Bonucci, Chiellini, Barzagli; Asamoah, Marchisio, Pirlo, Giaccherini, Vucinic; Quagliarella, Matri

Bayern Munich

Bayern manager Jupp Heynckes will be pleased to welcome back Spain defensive midfielder Javi Martinez after he saw out a one-match ban.

But he will be concerned about the absence of midfielder Toni Kroos, who suffered an adductor injury in his team’s previous game against Frankfurt, potentially ruling him out for the rest of the season. Holger Badstuber’s cruciate rupture has kept him out for the remainder of the campaign.

Squad (from): Manuel Neuer, Dante, Daniel Van Buyten, Franck Ribéry, Javi Martínez, Mario Mandžuki?, Arjen Robben, Xherdan Shaqiri, Rafinha, Claudio Pizarro, Jérôme Boateng, Patrick Weihrauch, Philipp Lahm (captain), Tom Starke, Maximilian Riedmüller, Thomas Müller, Diego Contento, David Alaba, Luiz Gustavo, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Lukas Raeder, Mario Gómez, Pierre Højberg, Emre Can, Toni Kroos, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk

Probable Starting XI: Neuer; Lahm, Dante, van Buyten, Boateng; Martinez, Schweinsteiger, Alaba; Ribery, Muller, Mandzukic

Key Men

Juventus: Andrea Pirlo

Players around him have been replaced, but Andrea Pirlo has always kept his place in the Juventus side. He will be supremely important for the Italian league leaders tonight if they are to have an opportunity to overturn Bayern’s considerable lead.

Bayern Munich: Dante

The giant Brazilian has been a revelation since arriving from Borussia Monchengladbach last summer, and is the rock around whom Bayern construct their defence. He will need to be mentally alert throughout the game if he is to stymie the Juve attackers.

Prediction

A Clash-of-the-Titans game such as this one is always hard to predict, but Juventus are still hurting from their loss two weeks ago, with Bayern making the Torinese side absolutely toothless. They will go through, but expect a long, hard night for both sides.

Predicting the first penalty shoot-out of the knockout stages might be a bit much, but given the talent on the pitch tonight, that seems very likely.

Juventus 2-0 Bayern Munich (Juventus to win on penalties)