Ernesto Valverde leads the Catalan outfit into Champions League battle for the first time and they come up against a formidable opponent
Barcelona and Juventus lock horns at Camp Nou on Tuesday as they get their Champions League campaigns under way.
The teams have developed somewhat of a rivalry in recent years and they have already met this season in the International Champions Cup, with Barca winning 2-1 thanks to a Neymar double .
The pair met in the 2015 Champions League final, which Barca won, but Juve had their revenge when they met at the quarter-final stage last season, triumphing 3-0 on aggregate on their run to the final.
SQUADS & TEAM NEWS
Barcelona players
Goalkeepers Ter Stegen, Cillessen, Ortola
Defenders Semedo, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Digne, Vidal, Umtiti, Vermaelen, Palencia, Morer, Tarin, Cucu
Midfielders Rakitic, S. Busquets, Arda, D. Suarez, Iniesta, Rafinha, Paulinho, Roberto, Gomes, Alena, Sarsanedas, O. Busquets
Forwards Messi, L. Suarez, Dembele, Deulofeu, Alcacer, Perez, Ruiz
New signing Ousmane Dembele will hope to make his first start for Barca after making his debut from the bench in last weekend's 5-0 win over Espanyol.
Rafinha will miss out as he continues to recover from injury as will Arda Turan, but Ivan Rakitic managed to play the full game against Espanyol and should be fit.
Potential starting XI: Ter Stegen; Alba, Umtiti, Pique, Semedo; Rakitic, Iniesta, Busquets; Dembele, Messi, L. Suarez.
Position Juventus players
Goalkeepers Buffon, Pinsoglio, Szczesny
Defenders De Sciglio, Benatia,
Chiellini, Sandro, Barzagli, Howedes, Rugani
Midfielders Pjanic, Khedira, Marchisio, Matuidi, Asamoah, Sturaro, Bentancur, Bernardeschi, Costa
Forwards Higuain, Dybala, Mandzukic
Gianluigi Buffon dropped to the bench for the 3-0 victory over Chievo on Saturday, with Wojciech Szczesny taking his place, but the Italy goalkeeper is likely to return to the starting XI.
Giorgio Chiellini is expected to miss out with a calf injury despite returning to training on Sunday, while Claudio Marchisio and Marko Pjaca are long-term absentees. Juan Cuadrado is suspended, while Alex Sandro and Sami Khedira are doubts.
Potential starting XI: Buffon; De Sciglio, Benatia, Rugani, Asamoah; Pjanic, Matuidi, Costa, Dybala; Mandzukic, Higuain.
BETTING & MATCH ODDS
Barcelona are 8/11 favourites to win
according to dabblebet, with Juventus priced at 10/3 to defeat the Catalan outfit. A draw is available at 11/4.
Lionel Messi is 5/2 to score first, with Luis Suarez following at 3/1, while Gonzalo Higuain is 5/1 to open the scoring. New Barca signing Ousmane Dembele is evens to score any time.
GAME PREVIEW
A lot has changed since these two sides met back in April and it will be interesting to see how both coaches approach the game as they attempt to lay down an early marker in the tournament.
Barcelona are without Neymar and have a new boss in Ernesto Valverde at the helm, while Juventus no longer boast the talents of Leonardo Bonucci and Dani Alves in their squad. Alex Sandro and Sami Khedira, who both featured in the 3-0 win over Barca in Turin, could miss out, meaning that the Juve team that takes to the field on Tuesday will have a distinctly different complexion.
The meeting will serve as the first big test for both sides this season, who have easily tallied nine points from their opening three league games and crucially for Barca it represents an opportunity to expunge the memory of their disappointing quarter-final defeat last term.
While they lost Neymar, the Catalan outfit signed Ousmane Dembele and the 20-year-old gave fans a glimpse of what he has in store on Saturday by laying on a goal for Luis Suarez in the demolition of rivals Espanyol. Lionel Messi bagged a hat-trick in that victory and the Argentine comes into the match in tremendous form.
With Messi getting into his stride and Suarez returning from injury, Barca are well primed to kick-start their continental campaign, but they will have to pay close attention to Juve's talisman Paulo Dybala, who engineered their demise last season.
Tuesday 12/09/2017;
19:45 GMT
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