Barcelona will travel to Juventus Stadium on Tuesday to face Juventus in the first leg of the quarter-final of the Uefa Champions League. Barcelona’s form has been pretty inconsistent over the course of the last few months. They were in the top position for a brief period but conceded the top spot to Real Madrid who drew with Atletico Madrid earlier.
Barcelona would be hoping to repeat the final of 2015 when they convincingly got the better of the current Italian champions. Luis Enrique’s side qualified to the Quarters of the Champions League by overturning a 4-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg.
Juventus are currently unbeaten in their last 17 Champions League home games winning ten and drawing seven amongst them. Barcelona will be aware of this fact and will be looking to inflict on them their first defeat since Bayern Munich defeated them back in 2013.
Predicted 4-4-2 Barcelona Lineup Against Juventus
Defence
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen will once against be at the heart of the Barcelona goal. After a silly defeat at the hands of Malaga, Ter Stegen will have to take this opportunity to prove his point.
Gerard Pique is fresh and fit and is ready to go. He will team up with Samuel Umtiti at the centre of the Catalans defence. They have to cut down the threat of the Juventus attack.
Jordi Alba will once again make himself available on the left flank and will try to compliment the other Barcelona players.
Sergi Roberto has been slotting in at the right back position this season and is poised to make a difference in the match.
Midfield
The absence of Sergio Busquets would be hard to fulfil and Javier Mascherano will fill in his shoes. The Argentine has the experience to have played in that position a number of times and his contribution will be crucial in this match.
Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic will try to take the midfield battle in their favour. Iniesta had to remain on the bench in the last match while Rakitic was serving a suspension. So both will be pretty fresh and could be the catalyst in this match.
Attack
Enrique will once again rely on the brilliance of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. Messi has scored 11 goals so far in the Champions League this season and with the likes of Suarez and Neymar alongside him, they could provide the platform to build a solid lead in the first leg.
