Juventus – Barcelona

This is the big derby in the Champions League on Tuesday night – Juventus against Barcelona. Two of the biggest clubs in Europe will meet in a first 1/4-final of the competition at the Juventus Stadium in Turin. This will be a replay of their Champions League final in 2015, when Barca beat Juve with 3-1 and won the trophy for a fifth time.

Both teams had a very different path to the 1/4-finals. Juventus eliminated Porto after two comfortable wins, proving that the Portuguese team couldn’t be a big test for them.

It was an entirely different thing for Barcelona. Luis Enrique’s team lost the first leg against PSG with 0-4 and everyone thought that they are about to leave the competition. A pure football miracle happened at the second-leg at Camp Nou though with Los Cules winning with 6-1 and making one of the Champions League’s greatest comebacks ever. Now even the impossible seems possible for the Catalans after a comeback like this.

Both teams are performing very differently in their domestic leagues. Juventus are marching on towards another Serie A title, having a six points lead in front of Roma.

Barcelona on the other hand lost another important game in the Spanish La Liga, losing its visit ot Malaga. This left Barca with 3 points behind the leader Real Madrid, who also have a game in hand.

It’s clear that Barcelona are most likely going to lose the battle with Real Madrid for La Liga. Now their biggest goal remains the trophy in the Champions League, which would be second for them under Luis Enrique’s managament.

Juventus will most likely chase a “clean” win over Barca, which will allow them to feel more comfortable at the Camp Nou. Barcelona on the other hand should not repeat their performance against PSG in Paris, because this time this is going to probably kick them out of the competition.