Juventus v Barcelona
15:00
Few would have expected Barca to be lining up in the quarters after their 4-0 defeat in Paris, or indeed when Cavani netted at the Nou Camp, but they managed one of the great comebacks in Champions League history and have been handed a tie with Juve. The Old Lady were much more comfortable in getting past Porto, winning 3-0 on aggregate, and will be hoping for revenge after their defeat against Barca in the 2015 final.
Juve are W9-D5-L0 at home in the Champions League since 2014/15 as they’ve beaten the likes of Dortmund, Real Madrid and Man City in that time and drawn against Atletico and Bayern. They’ve kept six clean sheets in eight at the J-Stadium since the start of last season in games that have tended to be tight, with seven of these seeing fewer than three goals and half with fewer than two. Further, they’ve won an astonishing 32 home league games in a row, only conceding twice in their last eight there.
Barca have won only four of their last 10 Champions League away games, with their victories coming over Bate, Arsenal, Monchengladbach and Celtic. They’ve lost at Bayern, Atletico, Man City and PSG in that period and Juve should provide them with a similar test. Indeed, since Barca have lost six of their 11 away knockout ties since 2012/13 and are without Busquets for this one, whilst they were also unable to capitalize on Atletico taking points off Real at the weekend as they lost 2-0 at Malaga, we’re siding with the hosts.
Betting intelligence provided by Football Form Labs
