Juventus vs Barcelona predictions and match preview for Wednesday’s game in the UEFA Champions League. Read on for the head-to-head, team news and predicted lineups as two European giants clash in Turin.
- DATE: Wednesday 28th October 2020
- KICK-OFF: 21:00 (local time)
- VENUE: Allianz Stadium
- COMPETITION: UEFA Champions League (Group Stage)
Juventus vs Barcelona Preview
There’s a heavyweight clash in Turin on Wednesday night as two giants of European football meet in one of the standout games in the Champions League group stage. Both sides are under new management with former club icons at the helm and it promises to be a fascinating match-up.
Barcelona head into the game following a disappointing Second Half display in the Clasico on Sunday as they crashed to a 3-1 home defeat. The result marked back to back league losses for the Catalans with the Koeman honeymoon period clearly over but Barça fans will still be able to find some reasons for positivity with teenagers Ansu Fati and Sergiño Dest both shining against Real Madrid.
Having hammered Ferencvaros 5-1 in their opening Champions League game last week, there’s not a huge amount of pressure on the two meetings with Juve, as these should comfortably be the two strongest teams in this group. A statement victory in a big game like this would though give the Catalans a real platform from which to build, with their away day European blues having been the main source of anguish for Barça in recent years.
As for Juventus, they are bidding for a historic 10th straight Serie A title this year and there is pressure on Andrea Pirlo to deliver it, in what is his first season as a head coach. On the continent though, Juve’s barren streak goes on and they are desperate to get their hands on Europe’s most prized trophy, having not won this competition in 24 years.
It hasn’t been a flying start for Pirlo’s Juventus with draws in 3 of their opening 5 league games, not helped by the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo due to COVID. Juve did though win their opening Champions League game, beating Dynamo Kiev 2-0 last week in Ukraine with former Real and Atletico Madrid forward Alvaro Morata scoring both goals.
Head to Head
- Last 6 Competitive Meetings: 2 Barcelona Wins, 2 Juventus Wins, 2 Draws.
- The sides last met in the 2017/18 group stage.
- The meeting in Turin that season ended 0-0 while Barcelona won 3-0 at Camp Nou.
- That is Barca’s only victory in 4 meetings with Juventus since they won the 2015 Champions League Final against them.
Team News
Cristiano Ronaldo faces an anxious wait to see whether he can feature having tested positive for COVID again last week. It currently looks as though he will miss this game while Matthijs de Ligt, Alex Sandro and Giorgio Chiellini are also significant injury absentees.
Gerard Pique is suspended so Ronald Araujo is set to start in defence for Barcelona. Marc-André ter Stegen and Philippe Coutinho are also both sidelined through injury.
Predicted Juve Starting Lineup:
Szczesny – Danilo, Bonucci, Demiral, Cuadrado – Ramsey, Rabiot, Arthur, Chiesa – Kulusevski – Morata (4-4-1-1)
Predicted Barca Starting Lineup:
Neto – Alba, Lenglet, Araujo, Dest – De Jong, Busquets – Fati, Griezmann, Dembele – Messi (4-2-3-1)
Juventus vs Barcelona Predictions
Score Prediction: Juventus 1-1 Barcelona
This doesn’t feel like a vintage Juve side and they have some significant absentees which ought to give Barcelona a really good chance of getting a result here. The same could be said of Barcelona of course, but their starting XI is likely to feature a bit more quality and this could end up all square giving the Catalans a slight advantage in the race to top this group.
UEFA Champions League Betting Tips (18+)
You can view our tips for this match and all the others in Europe this week involving Spanish teams by signing up to follow our All Competitions Portfolio for free on Tipstrr. You can view our profit/loss stats and success ratios there.
Please note, we don’t guarantee any long-term gains if you’re backing our tips. If you do choose to bet, only stake what you can afford to lose. See BeGambleAware for more on responsible gambling.
Read our latest Champions League & Europa League match previews.
