Juventus vs. Bayern
Venue: Juventus Stadium, Turin
Tuesday night (today) will play host to arguably the standout tie of the Champions League last 16 as the 2014-15 runners-up, Juventus, host Bayern Munich in the first leg.
The two sides are among the most in-form teams in European football right now and have reached the final of this competition 18 times between them.
Having dominated Italian football in recent years, winning the Serie A title in each of the last four seasons, Juventus are beginning to re-establish themselves as one of the best teams in Europe too.
The Old Lady made it all the way to the final last term having already clinched a league and cup double, but they were pipped to the post by Barcelona, who were chasing a treble of their own.
There appeared to be no hangover from that defeat, at least in Europe, when Juve opened the group stage with victory over Manchester City at the Etihad, before going on to remain unbeaten throughout their opening five games of this season’s campaign.
Fortunately for Massimiliano Allegri’s side, they boast one of the meanest defensive records in Europe over the past few months and go into Tuesday’s match on a run of nine consecutive clean sheets.
Making it 10 in a row and preventing Bayern from getting an away goal, could be crucial to their chances of reaching the quarter-finals.
There can be many parallels drawn between Juventus and Bayern Munich, both this season and in recent campaigns.
Both have dominated domestically, with Bayern having won the Bundesliga title in each of the last three seasons and looking good for a fourth with an eight-point lead at the top of the table.
Both come into this match in formidable form too.
Bayern, like Juventus, have not been beaten in any competition since early December and the two sides have an identical record of nine wins and one draw from their last 10 outings.
The key difference, however, comes in the success of Bayern on the European stage. While Juventus have not won Europe’s highest club honour since 1996, Bayern were able to complete the treble in 2013 and have reached at least the semi-finals in five of the last six seasons.
Bayern have failed to win any of their last five away games in the knockout stages of this competition and will need to become the first visiting side to score a Champions League goal at the Juventus Stadium this season if that record is going to change.
Juventus possible starting lineup: Buffon, Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Barzagli, Evra, Cuadrado, Khedira, Marchisio, Pogba, Dybala, Morata.
Bayern possible starting lineup: Neuer, Lahm, Kimmich, Alaba, Bernat, Robben, Vidal, Thiago, Costa; Muller, Lewandowski.