Footballpedia.net - The first Matchday of Group D Champions League UEFA will bring Barcelona against Juventus. The match will take place at Camp Nou on Wednesday (13/09).
Barcelona and Juventus finally meet again in the Champions League. Last season the two teams met in the Champions League quarter-final and Juventus successfully beat Barcelona with a 3-0 aggregate score.
In contrast to last season, Barcelona have not been reinforced by Neymar and this time will likely give full debut to Ousmane Dembele. Juventus have also lost Leonardo Bonucci and in this match lost many players for various reasons.
This match could be the first serious test for Ernesto Valverde after the Supercopa de Espana some time ago. Valverde will miss Rafinha who suffered a long injury and Sergi Roberto who has not fully recovered from injury, although can be forced to play if conditions force. In addition to these two players, the entire Barcelona squad seems ready to compete.
Barcelona seem to be lowering their best squad in this fight. Ter Stegen will be the main goalkeeper guarded by Semedo, Pique, Umtiti and Alba. Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Rakitic will be the hosts of the game in the middle while the messi, Suarez and Dembele will be the new attacking trio in front line.
On the side of the visitors, Massimiliano Allegri is being forced to rack his brain. He lost a lot of important players Juve who must be absent in this fight. Claudio Marchisio, Sami Khedira, Mario Mandzukic and Giorgio Chiellini are injured and can not play. Benedikt Howedes was not brought because he was not ready. Alex Sandro's condition is still doubtful after last weekend's illness. Stephan Lichtsteiner and Marko Pjaca are also out of the Champions League squad this season.
Allegri will likely be installing Gianluigi Buffon as a goalkeeper assisted by De Sciglio, Barzagli, Rugani and forcing Alex Sandro to play. In the middle, Pjanic and Matuidi are assigned to match the Barca midfielders. Douglas Costa, Dybala and Bernardeschi are likely to be given a chance to perform together. They will support Gonzalo Higuain who is installed as the main attacker.
Estimated Player Composition:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Raftic, Busquets, Iniesta (c); Messi, Suarez, Dembele.
Juventus: Buffon (c); De Sciglio, Barzagli, Rugani, Sandro; Pjanic, Matuidi;Douglas Costa, Dybala, Bernardeschi; Higuain.
Head to Head Both Teams:
22/04/03 Barcelona 1-2 Juventus (Champions League)
07/06/15 Juventus 1-3 Barcelona (Champions League)
12/04/17 Juventus 3-0 Barcelona (Champions League)
20/04/17 Barcelona 0-0 Juventus (Champions League)
23/07/17 Juventus 1-2 Barcelona (International Champions Cup)
Last Five Matches of Barcelona:
14/08/17 Barcelona 1-3 Real Madrid (Supercopa de Espana)
17/08/17 Real Madrid 2-0 Barcelona (Supercopa de Espana)
21/08/17 Barcelona 2-0 Real Betis (La Liga)
26/08/17 Alaves 0-2 Barcelona (La Liga)
10/09/17 Barcelona 5-0 Espanyol (La Liga)
Last Five Matches of Juventus:
05/08/17 Tottenham 2-0 Juventus (Friendly)
14/08/17 Juventus 2-3 Lazio (Supercoppa Italiana)
19/08/17 Juventus 3-0 Cagliari (Serie A)
26/08/17 Genoa 2-4 Juventus (Serie A)
09/09/17 Juventus 3-0 Chievo (Serie A)
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