Juventus vs Barcelona: 5 reasons why the Old Lady will win against the Blaugrana

The Champions League is back and it is back with a bang! Juventus take on Barcelona in tonight’s blockbuster Champions League clash and it promises to be a match worth watching.

While Barcelona are undoubtedly one of the favourites for the title (especially after their incredible comeback against PSG), one cannot discount the Italian Champions especially when they are playing at home.

Without much ado, let us take a look at 5 reasons why Juventus can get the better of Barcelona tonight:

#5 The absence of Sergio Busquets

The all-conquering Barcelona side have an attacking trident which is the envy of the whole world. However, the player who is most vital for Barcelona’s unique system to work is Sergio Busquets. The Spaniard often does the dirty work in the middle of the park without which Barcelona cannot play the beautiful football which they are renowned for.

The Spaniard is known for the pivotal midfield anchor role he plays at Barcelona. A hard-working and tactically astute player he excels at breaking play in midfield due to his positional sense and defensive skills. He is the reason Barcelona can control possession and play their quick passing football without moving into the defensive pass.

Although Busquets has not been at his best this season, he is extremely important to the Catalan giants and they certainly lack conviction whenever Busquets is missing. The importance of Busquets to the team can perhaps be best summed up by Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos. In spite of the rivalry and one incidence of a red card earned due to Busquets' play acting, this is what Sergio Ramos had to say about him:

"There are a number of players I like, but the one we perhaps need is Busquets"

Juventus will certainly be licking their lips at the prospect of facing Barcelona without perhaps their most important player.

#4 Juventus’ unbelievable record at home

While the world has been going gaga about the performances of Barcelona and Real Madrid in the last 3 years, Juventus have silently established themselves as a European superpower especially at home at their trusty new Juventus stadium.

The Italian giants are unbeaten at home since the start of the season and have looked absolutely invincible at home. In all their home matches this season, the Bianconeri have drawn only twice.

Also, Barcelona’s away form has not exactly set the world on fire. On certain occasions, they have struggled on their away trips with their 4-0 away defeat to PSG the standout result in this season. The Catalan giants have recently suffered a 2-0 defeat at Malaga and they will not be confident of getting a good result at the home of the Italian champions.

Juventus, quite simply put do not lose at home.

#3 Barcelona’s leaky defence and set-piece woes

The Barcelona defence will be thanking their lucky stars that they do not have to face the likes of Messi, Neymar and Suarez. Because if they had to, there would have been an absolute bloodbath at the Juventus stadium tonight.

However, the likes of Dybala, Higuain, Mandzukic and Cuadrado will also be licking their lips at the opportunity of running the leaky Barcelona defence ragged. The Juventus attack is capable of causing the best defences in the world quite a few problems and Barcelona will be hoping to avoid another embarrassing first leg result.

Throw into the mix Pjanic’s brilliant set-piece taking abilities and the likes of Pique, Mascherano and Umtiti will be working overtime with Luis Enrique to get their marking in set-pieces right. The Old Lady have some excellent headers of the ball and they will be confident of exposing the Barcelona defence and getting a positive result in the first leg.

#2 Barcelona’s tactical imbalance and worrying midfield form

The 2015 Barcelona side which won the Champions League against Juventus was a settled side. They always played the 4-3-3 formation and they could rely on the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Rakitic to provide balance and the cutting edge.

However, this season has seen Barcelona move slightly away from their ethos of tiki-taka football. Not afraid to play long balls, Barcelona have slightly lost their identity under Luis Enrique. Also, the likes of Iniesta, Rakitic and Denis Suarez have failed to live up to their potential.

While the likes of Messi, Neymar and Suarez have been at their usual best, there has been a general overreliance on their brilliance to dig out results. Enrique has also experimented with a 3 man defence with mixed results.

Barcelona have failed to replace the likes of Dani Alves and Xavi successfully and this has forced Enrique to tweak with the tactics. All this means that Barcelona are not as good as the 2015 side which won the Champions League against Juventus and the Old Lady are arguably the favourites to get a good result in the first leg.

#1 The real ‘BBC’ are capable of outshining ‘MSN’

Much has been made of the vaunted Barcelona trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez (and rightly so), but what stands in their way tonight might be their biggest challenge so far. While Juventus no longer play with a back three of Barzagli, Chiellini and Bonucci, they still have the defensive BBC trio to rely on.

Playing 4 at the back under Allegri this season, the likes of Bonucci, Chiellini and the evergreen Gianluigi Buffon have been at their dependable best keeping plenty of clean sheets and not giving a moment’s respite to the opposition attackers.

Bonucci and Chiellini’s tactical reading of the game is second to none and in Buffon, Juventus have got the greatest goalkeeper of our generation. Still capable of making stunning saves and very much at the top of their games, the presence of Buffon, Bonnuci and Chiellini will certainly provide a calming influence and make the Old Lady faithful confident of keeping a clean sheet.

Juventus are the toughest opponents Barcelona could probably draw in the Champions League and it looks likely that the Catalan giants will have more than a match on their hands during the first leg at Juventus stadium tonight.

Prediction: Juventus 3-1 Barcelona