Barcelona are set to welcome Italian champions Juventus to Camp Nou in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Both Barcelona and Juventus will be aiming to secure first place in Group G. Both sides have already booked their places in the last-16 stage of the competition. Barca has a three-point advantage over second-placed Juve. If Barca wants to confirm the top spot from Ronald Koeman’s side on the final matchday, the Blaugrana has serious work to do.
This season, Barca’s Champions League form was exceptional. They have won all five of their Group G fixtures with an aggregate score of 16-2. And they look to comfortably book their place in the competition’s knockout stage. The Catalan giants are very much in charge of the section’s first place. They will only give Juve top spot if they lose by three or more goals, or by some other two-goal margin than 2-0.
Juve are also already through to the next round. They have earned 12 points from their five group matches courtesy of four wins and one loss. To win first place, the Old Lady will have to come up with a special result. But last week they beat Dynamo 3-0 at home and are definitely capable of running up a big score against their unpredictable hosts.
Barcelona is facing serious injury problems this season. Yesterday they revealed that Dembele has joined the injured player’s list. On the treatment table, Dembele joins Ansu Fati, Gerard Pique, and Sergi Roberto, while Samuel Umtiti is again forced to miss out because of continuing knee problems. As for Juve, Merih Demiral, Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluigi Buffon remain on the sidelines through injury, but Alvaro Morata is available as his suspension only relates to domestic matches.
Possible Starting Lineup:
Barcelona : Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba; Pjanic, De Jong; Pedri, Messi, Coutinho; Griezmann
Juventus : Szczesny; Cuadrado, Bonucci, De Ligt, Sandro; Kulusevski, Rabiot, Bentancur, Chiesa; Morata, Ronaldo
