Bayern need Turin break
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Article summary
It is win or bust for FC Bayern München on Matchday 6 when they travel to Juventus, who are unbeaten in 16 European home games and needing just a point to reach the first knockout round at their opponents' expense.
Article top media content
![Bayern need Turin break Bayern need Turin break](https://editorial.uefa.com/resources/01df-0e7364d1d8bd-393ad229f64e-1000/format/wide1/bayern_s_arjen_robben_feels_the_pressure.jpeg?imwidth=158)
Article body
It is win or bust for FC Bayern München when they visit Juventus for their concluding fixture in UEFA Champions League Group A.
• Juventus enter the game a point ahead of Bayern and requiring just a draw to join section winners FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the last 16.
• The Serie A side have a formidable recent home record in Europe and the historical omens do not favour Bayern either – they were beaten on their two previous trips to Turin and their coach Louis van Gaal once lost a UEFA Champions League final against Juventus.
Previous meetings
• The teams drew 0-0 in Munich on 30 September.
• Juventus were 2-1 winners when the clubs last met in Italy in the UEFA Champions League group stage in November 2005. David Trezeguet (62, 85) struck both Bianconeri goals, sandwiching a Sebastien Deisler (66) effort for Bayern. Juventus ended with ten men after Zlatan Ibrahimović's 90th-minute sending-off.
• The full lineups that evening were:
Juventus: Abbiati, Zambrotta, Thuram, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Kovač (Camoranesi 58; Mutu 76), Emerson, Vieira, Del Piero (Nedvěd 46), Trezeguet, Ibrahimović.
Bayern: Kahn, Sagnol, Lucio, Ismaël, Schweinsteiger, Zé Roberto, Demichelis (Scholl 87), Ballack, Deisler, Pizarro, Makaay (Guerrero 88).
• Juve also beat Bayern at home in the 2004/05 group stage, Pavel Nedvěd's 75th-minute goal securing a 1-0 victory. Ciro Ferrara, now Juventus coach, was in their team that evening.
Match background
• Juventus need only preserve their 16-game unbeaten home record in the UEFA Champions League to advance to the knockout stage.
• The Bianconeri suffered their last home reverse in Europe when losing 1-0 to RC Deportivo La Coruña in the first knockout round in 2003/04.
• Since then they have recorded eleven wins and six draws, including this term's 1-1 home result against Bordeaux and victory over Maccabi Haifa FC. Their defensive record in this time has been formidable with eleven clean sheets and just six goals conceded.
• Qualifiers included, the unbeaten run stands at 18 matches.
• Juventus's last home fixture against a Bundesliga outfit brought a 2-1 success against Werder Bremen in the 2005/06 first knockout round – Trezeguet cancelled out an early Bremen goal before Emerson's 88th-minute winner ensured the Bianconeri scraped through on away goals.
• Hamburger SV were the last German team to win at Juventus, prevailing 3-1 in the 2000/01 group stage. Bayern goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt was in the Hamburg lineup while Ferrara featured for Juve along with Alessandro Del Piero and Trezeguet.
• Bayern will travel to Italy with a strong recent record away from home in the UEFA Champions League – their last 12 fixtures have produced six wins, three draws and three defeats.
• This sequence includes draws at ACF Fiorentina (1-1 in the 2008/09 group stage) and AC Milan (2-2 in the 2006/07 quarter-finals).
• Bayern last won in Italy in September 2006 when goals from Claudio Pizarro and Lukas Podolski earned a 2-0 success at FC Internazionale Milano in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Juventus lost European Champion Clubs' Cup finals against German clubs in 1983 (Hamburg 0-1) and, with Ferrara in the team, 1997 (BV Borussia Dortmund 1-3). They defeated Dortmund 6-1 on aggregate to land the UEFA Cup in 1993.
• Of the 16 teams occupying top-two positions in their UEFA Champions League groups this season, only Olympiacos FC have scored as few goals as Juventus (three).
Team ties
• The two rival coaches met in the 1996 UEFA Champions League final in Rome when Bayern's Van Gaal was in charge of an AFC Ajax side beaten on penalties by a Juventus team featuring Ferrara, his present-day Bianconeri counterpart.
• Van Gaal had led Ajax to victory against another Italian side, Milan, in the final 12 months earlier.
• Van Gaal also guided Ajax past Juve's city rivals, Torino FC, in the 1992 UEFA Cup final.
• Ferrara was in the SSC Napoli team that got the better of Bayern in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup semi-finals, drawing 2-2 in Munich to complete a 4-2 aggregate success.
• Hasan Salihamidžić spent nine years with Bayern from 1998 to 2007 and was part of their UEFA Champions League-winning team in 2001.
• Fabio Grosso faced Bayern at the equivalent stage of the last season's competition with Olympique Lyonnais – and finished on the losing side in a 3-2 defeat. Felipe Melo was playing in the same section for Fiorentina.
• Grosso and Del Piero scored Italy's goals against Germany in their 2006 FIFA World Cup semi-final. Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Mauro Camoranesi and Vincenzo Iaquinta were also in the victorious Azzurri side against a Germany team including Bayern trio Miroslav Klose, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger.
• Bayern goalkeeper Butt has scored two UEFA Champions League goals against Juventus – converting one spot-kick for Hamburg in a 4-4 draw in 2000/01 and another for Bayer 04 Leverkusen in a 3-1 win the following season.
• Bayern's Italy striker Luca Toni played against Juventus for US Città di Palermo and Fiorentina in Serie A. He was on target for the Viola in a 1-1 draw in Turin in April 2006.
• Arjen Robben appeared as a substitute for Real Madrid CF when they lost 2-1 at Juventus in the 2008/09 group stage. He was a colleague of Juve defender Cannavaro at Madrid.