Juve worried about visit to Bayern

Titans clash

The star match today in the UEFA Champions League is the visit of Juventus, two-time European champions, to the Allianz Arena in Munich to face a resurgent Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich have been European champions four times.

While Juventus last won in 1996, the Bavarians won on penalties against Valencia in 2001. This season, both teams believe they have the squad to win the big-eared cup gain.

Bayern made an impressive start to their campaign in Group A, winning 3-0 at Maccabi Haifa two weeks ago but domestic form has been apathetic, compounded by Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Hamburg SV. They now lie seventh in the Bundesliga with 11 points from seven games.

There are also signs of dissension from record-buy Mario Gomez who complained last week that he was being substituted too often and was promptly left out of the starting line-up altogether for Saturday’s match with Bundesliga leaders Hamburg.

Juventus drew 1-1 at home to Bordeaux in their Champions League opener, with the French side looking more accomplished on the day. They also lost the chance to go top in the Serie A with Sunday’s 1-1 Serie A draw with Bologna, where the visitors equalised in stoppage time.

Gianluigi Buffon has looked awesome and has actually been the main reason why Juve remain unbeaten this season.

Do better

The defence without injured Fabio Cannavaro would come up against two great dribblers cum wingers in Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben. Jonathan Zebina and Fabio Grosso would have to cover their flanks and not marauding forward, especially in the case of Grosso.

Juventus midfielder, Felipe Melo, believes they can do better as a team. “I am convinced that this team, my team, can do better and will try to do better immediately against Bayern Munich.” It promises to be an interesting tie.

United welcome Wolfsburg

Champions of England and Germany face off at Old Trafford, a rarity in this competition in recent years.

Wolfsburg have Zvjezdan Misimovic and Edin Dzeko in fine fettle plus the added threat of Obafemi Martins who scored for Newcastle at Old Trafford last season.

The Red Devils though have lost just once in the Champions League since 2006 and that was in the finals against a rampant Barcelona in May.

Real Madrid would welcome old boy, Fernando Morientes back to the Santiago Bernebeu but if he scores against his former team, do not expect any celebration akin to Emmanuel Adebayor’s at the City of Manchester Stadium.