Juventus are looking to secure qualification from UEFA Champions League Group D when they travel to meet Olympiacos Piraeus at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on Tuesday. Juventus won the reverse fixture 2-0, but they only managed to win once in their last three trips to Piraeus. Olympiacos defeated the Bianconeri 1-0 at home in 2014, also in the Champions League group stage, and in 1999 they held the Italian champions to a 1-1 draw in Greece. Overall, Juventus have won five of the last seven direct meetings.
Olympiacos have already blown their chances of qualification from UEFA Champions League Group D, they are certain to finish last after having picked up just one point from their five matches so far. However, they did manage to hold mighty Barcelona to a goalless draw in Piraeus, so Juventus will probably make sure they don't underestimate the Greek side. Olympiacos won their last four matches in the Greek league and they are currently second in the league table. Diogo Figueiras is suspended for the hosts.
Juventus have to win this match if they want to be sure of qualification, if they lose or draw they will have to keep their fingers crossed for Barcelona to beat Sporting in the other match. Barcelona are already sure of finishing at the top of the group table, so they might field a weakened side against Sporting in order to rest some key players. Last week Juventus got their Serie A campaign back on track with a 1-0 victory at former leaders Napoli, but next weekend they play against new leaders Inter. Mario Mandzukic and Benedikt Howedes are the only injury concerns for the away side, but both could recover in time.
Probable line-ups:
Olympiacos: Proto - Elabdellaoui, Botia, Engels, Koutris - Tachtsidis - Pardo, Odjidja-Ofoe, Romao, Carcela-Gonzalez - Fortounis
Juventus: Szczesny - De Sciglio, Barzagli, Chiellini, Sandro - Pjanic, Bentancur - Cuadrado, Dybala, Costa - Mandzukic
My prediction: Juventus to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Olympiacos win - 15.00
Draw - 6.50
Juventus win - 1.25
Your feedback
Please enter your comment.
Your comment is added.
Comments (1)
sharpe
12/21/17, 11:12:34 AM
It was an expected Juventus triumph in Greece I think, the Italian grand couldn't afford another group stage failure as in some of their previous CL campaigns. Not...
It was an expected Juventus triumph in Greece I think, the Italian grand couldn't afford another group stage failure as in some of their previous CL campaigns. Not in this group anyway. Olympiakos was the clear underdog in the group drawing just once from six games so...pretty miserable performance from them but quite understandable too I think.
Show more
