A tough draw laid in store for Juventus in Nyon on Friday as Antonio Conte’s team were pitted with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Juventus, winners of the tournament in 1996, will play the first leg away on April 2. The return match at the Juventus Stadium is scheduled for April 10.
In Serie A, Juventus are the undisputed leaders with 65 points, nine clear of nearest pursuers Napoli. Such advantage, with only nine matches left, makes of Juventus the prime favourites to retain the scudetto, albeit they still have to cross swords with Inter, Lazio and Torino away from home besides a home clash against Milan.
In Italy, the pundits are saying that Juventus have enough quality and experience within their squad to outsmart Bayern. Moreover, the fact that the first leg will be played in Germany could favour the Bianconeri, particularly if they score a goal at the Allianz Arena.
Juventus have kept a clean sheet in all their last five Champions League outings – vs Nordsjaelland (4-0), Chelsea (3-0), Shakhtar (1-0) and Celtic (3-0, 2-0). On the other hand, no side have scored more than Bayern in the competition this season – 18 goals (15 of which in the group stage).
Juventus and Bayern have faced each other six times in the European Cup, three encounters going Juve’s way and two in favour of Bayern, including an unprecedented 4-1 victory on their last visit to Turin in December 2009. The remaining fixture was a draw.
Juve’s most recent success over Bayern dates back to November 2, 2005 (2-1).
Bayern, four-times European Cup winners, have been in commanding form this season.
They have won 22 of their 26 league fixtures and in the Champions League they topped Group F with 13 points before ousting Arsenal on the away goals rule in the Last 16.
Runners-up in two of the last three Champions League finals (against Inter 0-2 in 2010 and Chelsea on penalties last year), Bayern are in an even better position than Juventus in the Bundesliga.
In fact, with eight games to go, Jupp Heynckes’s team have opened a massive 20-point lead over second-placed Borussia Dortmund, the outgoing champions.
In his last season in charge at the Allianz Arena, the 68-year-old Heynckes is bidding to lead Bayern Munich to their first European Cup triumph since beating Valencia on penalties in Milan, in May 2001.
Heynckes, who will leave in summer and replaced by former Barcelona mentor Pep Guardiola, does not bring fond memories to Juventus as he was the brains behind Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph in 1998 when the Spanish giants edged Marcello Lippi’s men by a solitary Predrag Mijatovic goal.
Bayern-Juventus has all the ingredients to be an exciting quarter-final and overall, seems to be the most balanced last-eight pairing of the lot.
The fact that both contenders are in the driving seat in their respective domestic leagues is another huge plus to this tie.