2. Juventus
The footballing world was full of praise for Juventus after the Old Lady romped to the Serie A title last season, and following further improvements to their squad over the summer, Antonio Conte’s men were expected to improve on their quarterfinals performance from last term.
However, with three games left to salvage their European campaign, Juve lie third in Group B with two points, with in-form Galatasaray and Real Madrid ahead of them.
Their next matchday’s encounter against Real Madrid will be crucial for their hopes of qualifying, as another loss against Los Blancos could all but eliminate their hopes of making the knockout rounds, especially if Roberto Mancini’s Galatasaray repeat Wednesday’s hammering of FC Copenhagen again.
For that game, they will be missing first-choice centre-half Giorgio Chiellini, who was sent off against Madrid this week for a foul on Cristiano Ronaldo.
Galatasaray will also go into their fixture against Juventus at home on the final matchday with confidence, having drawn the Italian giants in Turin on matchday two, as well as the record of having never lost to the Old Lady at the Turk Telekom Arena. Given their raucous crowd support and possible do-or-die situation, the Turkish club could hold the aces to claiming the second spot in the group over Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, and co.