Juventus vs Celtic Preview

Topics: Juventus, Celtic, UEFA Champions League

The Italian champions hold a clear three-goal advantage from the first leg and will be looking to finish off the job in Turin.

Having crushed Celtic 3-0 in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League tie in Glasgow, Juventus have everything in their favour to reach the quarter-finals of the competition when the sides meet again, but this time at the Juventus Stadium on Wednesday.

Juventus, who have only lost once in their last 29 home games for the Champions League, are totally in command of their opponents, and will surely rate their chances of progressing.

But even though they have a favourable advantage, Juventus coach Antonio Conte is unlikely to take any risks, and will field his strongest-possible starting eleven for the clash.

Conte, who led Juventus to the Italian championship last season, will be unable to count with no less than five players for the game, who are Martin Caceres, Simone Pepe, Paolo De Ceglie, Nicolas Anelka and Nicklas Bendtner.

Once again Conte has decided to go for the attacking strike-force of Alessandro Matri and Mirko Vucinic, who both got on the score-sheet in the first leg in Scotland. Claudio Marchisio, who was the other goal-scorer on that night, will sit in the middle of the midfield alongside Chilean enforcer Arturo Vidal.

Rivals Celtic are fully aware of the fact that they need a miracle to return home with qualification in the bag, but have yet to throw in the towel.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon understands that his side face an almost impossible task to overcome Juventus, but will reinforce his attack with Georgios Samaras. The striker had been rested for the Scottish Cup win over St Mirren last weekend.

Two players who will miss out on team selection are Mikael Lustig and Scott Brown, who are both injured, and unavailable for the clash.

But Celtic have failed to get past the Round of 16 stage of the competition since the creation of the Champions League, and have very slim chances of achieving this against Juventus, who are quite rightly considered one of the main title contenders this season.