This Wednesday, Juventus will host Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. Both teams were victorious in their first clashes and will now look to establish dominance over the group. Ronald Koeman has to make a statement after the teams defeat to Real Madrid and Andrea Pirlo will also want to wash away the sour taste the draw with Hellas Verona left in Bianconeris mouth.
This tactical analysis will be a preview of both squads tactics and will look to dissect their style of play. At the end of the analysis, we will also give you our full predictions for the game.
Predicted lineups
And while both teams are hit with some injuries, Juventus are likely to be more thinned out coming into the match. Most notably, of course, the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo is sure to be felt but Pirlo does have some quality options to replace him.
Between the sticks, Wojciech Szczęsny is almost sure to start while the four-man defence should consist of Juan Cuadrado, Leonardo Bonucci, Merih Demiral and Danilo. There is, of course, a chance Bianconeri go for a three-man backline but we feel they might change things up a bit. In front of the defence, Adrien Rabiot and Rodrigo Bentancur should be the central midfielders, flanked by Dejan Kulusevski on the right and Federico Chiesa on the left.
Their 4-4-2 could be spearheaded by the Álvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala duet.
Barcelona, on the other hand, have the suspension of Gerard Piqué and the injury of Philippe Coutinho to worry about. For that reason, Ronald Araújo is set to start next to Clément Lenglet with Jordi Alba and Sergiño Dest the likely full-back pairing. However, since the former is still very fresh from injury despite playing the Clásico, the American may start on the left with Sergi Roberto manning the opposite side. Behind them, in goal, well see Neto once again.
In midfield, Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets is once again the likely duo, even though the latter’s poor run of form may see him dropped for Miralem Pjanić. Up front, Antoine Griezmann is set to return to the lineup with the absence of Coutinho and he will join Lionel Messi down the middle.
On the wings, Ansu F
