Barcelona can confirm top spot in Group D by avoiding defeat against Juventus in the Champions League.

A 3-0 win at Camp Nou in September leaves the Liga giants in pole position, while another defeat for the Old Lady could set up a nervy final matchday with a knockout stage still not confirmed.

Gerard Pique is back for Barcelona after serving a one-match suspension, a boost with Paulo Dybala looking to emulate his two-goal show against the same opposition last season.

The Blaugrana will travel to Turin with the intention of keeping their unbeaten run alive in this season’s competition alive when they take on the Old Lady of Italian football; Juventus drew with Sporting in their last outing and missed the chance to get close to Barcelona in the standings. They lost 3-0 to the Catalans on an opening day at Camp Nou and are now three points adrift of the Spanish giants.

The draw against Sporting Lisbon didn’t do the Italians too much favour as it left the Portuguese team with a slim chance of making it to the next round ahead of the Italians, so Juve know that they need a win tonight to guarantee their place in the next round of the competition or they might be in a must-win situation when they take the trip to Olympiacos on matchday six. Barcelona were held to a goalless draw by Olympiacos which disrupted their 100% winning record in the competition as well as the chance to finish as group leaders.

 

However, all they need is a draw tonight to ensure they win the group. These sides have met ten times and there is little to separate them as Barcelona have four wins to Juve’s three with the remaining three ending in stalemates. Barcelona are yet to win in Turin as their four previous visits to Turin have yielded just two draws and two losses.

The last time these teams met here was last season and Juve hammered Barca 3-0. The Italians have a very healthy home record against Spanish teams with fourteen wins, eight draws and two losses from twenty games, while Barcelona’s record on Italian soil consists of six wins, nine draws and six losses from twenty-one games. Paulo Dybala, Gianluigi Buffon, Blaise Matuidi, Mattia De Sciglio and Alex Sandro were all rested at the weekend and should all start for Juventus tonight, while for Barcelona, Gerard Pique is available again after serving a one-match ban against Olympiacos.

Barcelona are the form team right now with Juventus not firing on all cylinders yet this season. However, the Old Lady’s home record in the UCL has to be taken into account as they are unbeaten since 2013, spanning twenty-one matches. This could be a cagey affair and I expect Juventus to at least avoid a defeat here and maybe sneak a win.

Repeat of previous final