Aiming to extend their perfect start in this season's Champions League, Italian giants Juventus will meet Stuttgart for the first time ever on Tuesday evening.
Having won in Leipzig last time out, Juve now face more German opposition back on home turf; meanwhile, their struggling visitors have picked up just one point so far.
Match preview
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Showing great spirit to turn the game on its head despite only having 10 men, Juventus battled back twice to claim a 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig earlier this month, returning to Turin with maximum points against all the odds.
The Bianconeri posted back-to-back Champions League wins as Dusan Vlahovic twice cancelled out goals from another star striker, Benjamin Sesko, with the second coming soon after goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio was sent off.
Substitute Francisco Conceicao then slalomed through the home defence to snatch victory with a late winner, building on Juve's 3-1 defeat of Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven a fortnight earlier.
This week, Thiago Motta could become just the third Juventus coach to win his first three Champions League matches, after legendary duo Fabio Capello (2004) and Marcelo Lippi (1995), which would further highlight his arrival as one of Europe's elite managers.
Dating back to Max Allegri's ill-fated second spell in charge, which concluded with a Coppa Italia triumph last season, Juve are unbeaten in their last 16 games across all competitions - but they left it late to beat 10-man Lazio at the weekend.
That success took them back to the Serie A summit for a few hours at least, while ending a three-game winless run at the Allianz Stadium in domestic competition.
Ahead of Sunday's Derby d'Italia against reigning champions Inter Milan, Motta's men must now tackle Stuttgart, who already have a five-point deficit to their hosts in the 36-team league-phase table.
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Stuttgart have won just one of 11 games against Italian opposition to date, and none since beating Juve's city rivals Torino in the UEFA Cup, way back in 1979.
Their first competitive encounter with Italy's most successful club comes with Die Schwaben sitting near the bottom of the Champions League standings, having earned only one point from two matches.
After suffering an unfortunate defeat to Real Madrid on their return to Europe's top club competition, Sebastian Hoeness saw his side held 1-1 at home by Sparta Prague, despite Enzo Millot nodding home a Maximilian Mittelstadt cross to put them in front.
However, hopes of victory were dashed when the hosts conceded an equaliser and then spurned a series of half-chances after dominating the second half.
Only Bayern Munich and Manchester City have averaged more possession than Stuttgart (65%) so far, and the German side's 76.5% share against Sparta was the highest in the Champions League this term - yet they were still forced to settle for a draw.
Including that result, last season's shock Bundesliga runners-up are unbeaten in 18 home matches, of which they have won 12, but following Saturday's 4-0 league loss to Bayern Munich in Bavaria, they will head for Turin on a four-game winless run.
Stuttgart have also won just three of their last 19 in the Champions League over the past couple of decades, so history will not be on their side when they face a rejuvenated Juventus side on Tuesday night.
Team News
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Thiago Motta will again be without long-term absentees Bremer and Arkadiusz Milik, both of whom are on the long road to recovery from knee surgery, while two expensive summer signings - Teun Koopmeiners (rib) and Nico Gonzalez (thigh) - are also ruled out of Tuesday's game.
Furthermore, first-choice goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio must serve a suspension, but USA midfielder Weston McKennie may be ready to return after sustaining a minor muscular injury on international duty and Francisco Conceicao is back in the fold after a one-match domestic ban.
Juventus have lowered their age profile again this season, regularly fielding academy graduate Nicolo Savona and Turkish teenager Kenan Yildiz, and the latter should support Dusan Vlahovic up front.
Vlahovic has either scored or provided an assist in each of his last three Champions League matches, so he will now try to become the first Juve striker to do so in four consecutive appearances since Cristiano Ronaldo.
Meanwhile, Stuttgart winger Jamie Leweling - who recently scored the winner on his Germany debut - has had the joint-most shots without scoring in the Champions League this season: eight - level with Paris Saint-Germain pair Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembele.
He will link up with Deniz Undav and Enzo Millot in the final third, just behind central striker Ermedin Demirovic, who has netted five Bundesliga goals so far.
The visitors' absence list features Germany midfielder Chris Fuhrich (adductor), Dan-Axel Zagadou (knee) and Justin Diehl (shoulder), in addition to Leonidas Stergiou (back) and Nikolas Nartey (knee).
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Perin; Savona, Kalulu, Gatti, Cabal; Locatelli, Fagioli; Cambiaso, Yildiz, Mbangoula; Vlahovic
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Nubel; Stenzel, Rouault, Chabot, Mittelstadt; Karazor, Stiller; Millot, Undav, Leweling; Demirovic
We say: Juventus 2-0 Stuttgart
Not only have new-look Juventus kept several clean sheets this season, but they also have a 14-match unbeaten streak behind them on home soil.
As Stuttgart have won only twice on the road in 2024-25 - and one was against lower-level opponents in the DFB-Pokal - they have little hope of taking anything away from Turin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
