Juventus Begin Champions League Campaign in Barcelona

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Last season’s Champions League runners-up, Juventus, will be aiming to go one better this season and win the tournament.

The Old Lady made it to the final of the 2016/17 Champions League only to come up against a very strong Real Madrid. Despite being level at half-time, Real Madrid proved too good in the second half and came away with the trophy thanks to a 4-1 win.

Juventus must start again this season and they could not have asked for a more difficult task as they travel to the Camp Nou to take on Barcelona.

The Catalan giants staged one of the best comebacks in the history of European football last season to eliminate Paris Saint-Germain in the Round of 16 but found Juventus too good in the quarter-final.

Both teams will know the importance of starting well in the Champions League this season and Barcelona have a very impressive home record in European football’s premier club tournament.

Trends show Barcelona are unbeaten in their last twenty-one home Champions League games.  They have won nineteen of those games, drawing two and their last defeat came at the hands of Bayern Munich in May 2013.

Barcelona are famed for scoring a lot of goals, especially at home and despite failing to find the back of the net against Juventus last season, have scored 50 goals in their last sixteen home Champions League games, at an average of 3.125 per game.

Their defending has also been good and trends show they have conceded 11 goals in their previous twenty-one home European games.

Juventus will see this match as an opportunity to place down a marker in Europe this season. They were disappointed in the way the final got away from them in the second half and will be determined to put that right.

Trends show Juventus have lost one of their last thirteen Champions League games, with the defeat coming in last season’s final.

Away from home, Juventus have lost two of their last fourteen games in the Champions League.  They lost at Sevilla and Bayern Munich in the 2015/16 campaign.  Following the defeat at Bayern Munich, Juventus have been on a run of six away games without defeat.

They have scored 10 goals in those six games and have conceded only once.  The question is, will the loss of Leonardo Bonucci at the heart of their defence make them easier to break down in Europe this season?

Barcelona will be hoping to have Ivan Rakitic available for this match after the Croatian midfielder picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty.  Otherwise, they should be at full strength for this game.

Juventus could be without Giorgio Chiellini who has a calf injury and the defender would be a big loss to the Italians.  Andrea Barzagli has also been struggling for fitness and this could leave Juventus short at the back.

The critics have been out for Barcelona following the sale of Neymar and their lack of significant recruitment in the summer.  However, if Juventus are short at the back, they still have more than enough quality to win this match.

It may not be as high scoring a game as we often see at the Camp Nou in the group stages of the Champions League but a narrow Barcelona win is a real possibility.