Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s Champions League clash between RB Leipzig and Juventus, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
After losing to a late goal on the opening matchday, RB Leipzig will target their first Champions League win of the season when unbeaten Juventus pay them a visit on Wednesday evening.
While the Bundesliga side were painfully edged out in Madrid, their Italian counterparts returned to UEFA’s top competition with a win over Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven.
Match preview
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Faced with a particularly tough run of league-phase fixtures, Leipzig were keen to take at least one point from their first game – perhaps the toughest of all, away to Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano.
In addition to facing Serie A heavyweights Juventus and Inter Milan, Die Roten Bullen must also meet Liverpool and Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon, plus Premier League high-flyers Aston Villa.
However, despite taking an early lead through Benjamin Sesko, they were hauled level before half time in the Spanish capital, before conceding a 90th-minute goal that inflicted an increasingly rare loss.
That 2-1 reverse remains Leipzig’s sole setback in 19 games across all competitions, having bounced back by taking four points from two subsequent league matches.
Most recently, they thumped Augsburg 4-0 last weekend to move into third place in the standings, continuing a club-record run without Bundesliga defeat.
Sesko bagged an early brace to get things started at the Red Bull Arena, boosting confidence in the camp before his club’s first Champions League meeting with Italian opposition.
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Amid an impressive start to his reign in Turin, Juventus coach Thiago Motta steered his side to success on their Champions League comeback – a potentially tricky fixture against Eredivisie champions PSV.
Highlighting a changing of the guard under new management, 19-year-old Kenan Yildiz scored a brilliant opener in the Bianconeri’s 3-1 victory, as Motta named Juve’s youngest-ever lineup in the competition, with an average age of 25 years and 149 days.
Yildiz also became their youngest Champions League scorer, with the only minor blot being the concession of a stoppage-time goal that remains the only one they have conceded all season.
Undefeated in seven games so far, Juventus followed a strange streak of three goalless draws in Serie A by beating Genoa 3-0 at the weekend, with Dusan Vlahovic striking twice in a stellar second-half display at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
While several big-money signings are yet to truly find their rhythm, Juve are now well placed to improve a dismal recent record on the road – at least in continental competition.
The two-time European champions have lost four of their last five Champions League away matches, including each of the last three – their longest such run for a decade.
Motta is now looking to end that sequence and become the third Juventus manager to win his first two games in UEFA’s elite competition, following in the footsteps of two greats: Marcello Lippi in 1995 and Fabio Capello nine years later.
RB Leipzig Champions League form:
RB Leipzig form (all competitions):
Juventus Champions League form:
Juventus form (all competitions):
Team News
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Leipzig coach Marco Rose handed summer signing Antonio Nusa his first Bundesliga start on Saturday, but Christoph Baumgartner and Atletico Madrid loanee Arthur Vermeeren are both vying to replace the Norwegian winger in midweek.
Whoever starts should link up with Lois Openda and Benjamin Sesko in the final third: for a second consecutive season, Sesko scored in RB’s Champions League opener, while Openda registered 28 goals in 44 games across all competitions last term.
Eljif Elmas is expected to overcome a knock in time to make the bench, but Kevin Kampl (adductor), Assan Ouedraogo and Xaver Schlager (both knee) are set to be sidelined by injury.
Meanwhile, Juventus could again be without Timothy Weah (ankle), and Arkadiusz Milik has yet to feature this season after suffering a knee injury on international duty, but Francisco Conceicao came on to score a late goal on Saturday after recovering from a thigh problem.
Dusan Vlahovic notched twice in Genoa and the Serbian striker has been directly involved in four goals from eight Champions League appearances to date, including an assist against PSV.
Once again, he should lead the Bianconeri’s front line in Germany, with support from Teun Koopmeiners, Nico Gonzalez and Kenan Yildiz. Elsewhere, first-choice goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio should return in place of deputy Mattia Perin.
RB Leipzig possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Geertruida, Orban, Lukeba, Raum; Baumgartner, Haidara, Vermeeren, Simons; Sesko, Openda
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Kalulu, Gatti, Bremer, Cambiaso; Locatelli, Fagioli; Gonzalez, Koopmeiners, Yildiz; Vlahovic
We say: RB Leipzig 1-0 Juventus
Leipzig have conceded just two goals in four Bundesliga matches so far this season – and both of those came in the course of beating champions Bayer Leverkusen – while Juventus have shipped only one overall.
Naturally, it could be a close-fought contest, with one moment of magic enough to make the difference between two well-matched teams. A more potent attack should ensure that the hosts take maximum points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.