Date: Tuesday 9th, March 2021
Time: 9:00pm
Stadium Allianz Stadium
Referee Bjorn Kuipers (Netherlands)
Goal Scorer:
Team News
Juventus
Andrea Pirlo’s significant injury list may be starting to ease, with Giorgio Chiellini and Matthijs de Ligt closing in on a return to the squad, while Leonardo Bonucci and Arthur both came off the bench in the second half of Saturday’s win over Lazio and Juan Cuadrado was fit enough to play 70 minutes.
However, Paulo Dybala remains injured, while Rodrigo Bentancur tested positive for COVID-19 late last week. In addition, versatile defender Danilo – who even featured in midfield last time out – is suspended.
The Juventus rearguard will necessarily be a mix-and-match affair then, with Pirlo most likely to pair Bonucci with Merih Demiral in central defence, allowing Alex Sandro to switch back to the left flank.
Enjoying his most fruitful goalscoring campaign in a Juve shirt, Alvaro Morata should be favoured to start alongside Cristiano Ronaldo up front, with Dejan Kulusevski dropping to the bench.
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Cuadrado, Bonucci, Demiral, Sandro; Chiesa, Rabiot, McKennie, Ramsey; Morata, Ronaldo
Juventus Champions League form: LWWWWL
Juventus form (all competitions): LLWDWW
Porto
The visitors have concerns over the availability of key men Pepe and Jesus Corona, who both returned from the weekend trip to Barcelos having suffered injuries. The former Real Madrid centre-back suffered a calf strain, while ‘Tecatito’ was hurt in an aerial collision.
Porto’s Chancel Mbemba is expected to be unavailable again, while Ivan Marcano may also not be fit enough to feature in Turin, causing a potential selection problem in central defence if Pepe cannot play.
Having posed Juventus a number of problems in the first leg – and both found the net – Moussa Marega and Mehdi Taremi are set to be paired in Sergio Conceicao’s front two.
Porto possible starting lineup:
Marchesin; Manafa, Pepe, Mbemba, Zaidu; Oliveira, Uribe, Otavio, Corona; Taremi, Marega
Porto Champions League form: WWWDWW
Porto form (all competitions): DWWDLW
Prediction: Juventus 2-0 Porto
