Juventus will look to preserve their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout phase when they travel to Maccabi Haifa.
The Old Lady are having a very poor season by their usual standards in Serie A and have brought that form into the Champions League too.
They currently sit third in Group H, four points behind Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain. However, with those two clubs facing off in the other fixture in the group this week, Juventus know they can close the gap with a win in Israel. However, a defeat could leave them with a mountain to climb.
Here’s all you need to know about the game.
Juventus vs Maccabi Haifa H2H results
Current Form (Last Five Games)
Maccabi Haifa team news
Mavis Tchibota is battling to keep his place in the side after Dean David’s goalscoring cameo in Turin in the reverse fixture. Omer Atzili is also knocking on the door for a recall.
Mahmoud Jaber and Suf Podgoreanu are both unavailable in midfield, but captain Tjaronn Chery and Mohammad Abu Fani are both fit and set to feature.
Maccabi Haifa Starting XI (5-3-2): Cohen; Sundgren, Seck, Batubinsika, Goldberg, Cornud; Mohamed, Fani, Chery; David, Pierrot
Bench: Atzili, Haziza, Lavi, Rukavytsya, Fux, Gershon, Eliyahu, Arad, Mashpati, Menachem, Levy, Tchibota
Juventus team news
Mattia De Sciglio injured his thigh in the reverse fixture last week so Alex Sandro is expected to deputise. Filip Kostic will also come into contention, though.
Federico Chiesa has resumed training but he won’t be ready in time, and Paul Pogba is some way off a return too.
Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes could come in for Manuel Locatelli and Arkadiusz Milik after Juventus’ disappointing 2-0 Serie A defeat to AC Milan.
Juventus Starting XI (4-4-2): Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, Bremer, Sandro; McKennie, Paredes, Rabiot; Di Maria, Vlahovic, Kostic
Bench: Locatelli, Kean, Miretti, Rugani, Gatti, Pinsoglio, Soule, Milik, Fagioli, Perin, Cuadrado
Neither team are heading into this one in very good form, which isn’t ideal for such a high stakes game. Maccabi Haifa probably never expected to qualify for the knockout stage, although another defeat here will all but end their hopes of a Europa League spot too.
Juventus definitely have the pedigree and experience to win this one, and they realistically need to. They look low on confidence and fluidity, though, and that’s far from ideal when going into a must-win game.
Prediction: Maccabi Haifa 1-1 Juventus
