February 12, 2013 2:45 PM EST
Celtic Park — Glasgow
Referee: Alberto Undiano
Attendance: 57917
Champions League Preview: Celtic - Juventus
Neil Lennon's side welcomes the current Serie A leaders to Glasgow on Tuesday night aiming to seal passage into the quarterfinals of Europe's premier cup competition
By Ryan Benson
| PROBABLE LINEUPS |
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CELTIC
Forster Matthews, Lustig, Wilson, Izaguirre Brown, Wanyama, Mulgrew Samara, Hooper, Forrest |
JUVENTUS
Buffon Bonucci, Barzagli, Caceres Pirlo Lichtsteiner, Marchisio, Vidal, Asamoah Vucinic, Giovinco |
With Celtic currently enjoying an 18-point lead at the top of the SPL, Neil Lennon made a host of changes for the weekend win over Inverness in order to ensure fresh legs.
However, question marks remain over a number of players. Emilio Izaguirre (knee) and Georgios Samaras (thigh) had previously been rated as 50/50 for the match, but with Lennon insisting their treatments would be as aggressive as possible, starts look highly plausible.
Efe Ambrose will be available for selection, but his appearance in Nigeria's Africa Cup of Nations final win on Sunday means he looks set to take a place on the bench, with Kelvin Wilson already highlighted as a probable starter.
Juventus head coach Antonio Conte has almost a full squad to pick from, with very few players missing for the trip to Scotland.
Giorgio Chiellini (calf) is still a few days away from a return, while Paolo De Ceglie, Simone Pepe and Nicklas Bendtner (all thigh) will miss out too.
On the positive side for Conte, Claudio Marchisio has recovered from the injury which had kept him out for a month, while Kwadwo Asamoah is back from AFCON duty with Ghana.
Meanwhile, Leonardo Bonucci's domestic suspension means he will be refreshed for Tuesday.
| DID YOU KNOW? |
On each of the four previous occasions these sides have met, the home team has been victorious.
- Twelve goals have been scored over the course of their last two meetings.
- Celtic has never been further than this stage of the competition since it was rebranded as the Champions League.
- From its previous 23 Champions League home matches, Celtic has only been beaten twice. Both of those defeats came against Barcelona.
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Like Borussia Dortmund, Malaga and Schalke, Juventus is unbeaten so far in this season's competition.
- The Italians conceded just four goals in the group stages. Only Paris Saint-Germain has a better record, having let in three goals.
- The Serie A leaders scored four of their 12 group stage goals from the bench, more than any other side.
- Gianluigi Buffon (pictured right) is the only player in either squad who played the last time the two sides met in 2001.
Reader's Predictions
Top 3 Predictions
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Celtic 0-2 Juventus
- 21.03 %
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Celtic 1-2 Juventus
- 15.18 %
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Celtic 1-3 Juventus
- 8.66 %
| UEFA Champions League (UCL) | Mar 6, 2013 | Juventus 2 - Celtic 0 | |
| UEFA Champions League (UCL) | Feb 12, 2013 | Celtic 0 - Juventus 3 |
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| Mar 6, 2013 | Juventus 2 - Celtic 0 | UCL |
| Feb 12, 2013 | Celtic 0 - Juventus 3 | UCL |
| Dec 5, 2012 | Celtic 2 - Spartak 1 | UCL |
| Nov 20, 2012 | Benfica 2 - Celtic 1 | UCL |
| Nov 7, 2012 | Celtic 2 - Barcelona 1 | UCL |
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| May 18, 2013 | Sampdoria 3 - Juventus 2 | ITA1 |
| May 11, 2013 | Juventus 1 - Cagliari 1 | ITA1 |
| May 8, 2013 | Atalanta 0 - Juventus 1 | ITA1 |
| May 5, 2013 | Juventus 1 - Palermo 0 | ITA1 |
| Apr 28, 2013 | Torino 0 - Juventus 2 | ITA1 |
| 1 | Fraser Forster | Goalkeeper |
| 3 | E. Izaguirre | Defender |
| - | E. Ambrose | Defender |
| 6 | Kelvin Wilson | Defender |
| 21 | Charles Mulgrew | Defender |
| 2 | M. Lustig | Defender |
| 8 | Scott Brown | Midfielder |
| 15 | Kris Commons | Midfielder |
| 49 | James Forrest | Midfielder |
| 67 | Victor Wanyama | Midfielder |
| 88 | Gary Hooper | Striker |
| 24 | Lukasz Zaluska | Goalkeeper |
| 2 | Adam Matthews | Defender |
| 16 | Joe Ledley | Midfielder |
| 33 | Beram Kayal | Midfielder |
| - | Tony Watt | Striker |
| 36 | Niouoi Lassad | Striker |
| 7 | Miku | Striker |
| 1 | Gianluigi Buffon | Goalkeeper |
| 4 | Martín Cáceres | Defender |
| 15 | Andrea Barzagli | Defender |
| 19 | Leonardo Bonucci | Defender |
| 26 | Stephan Lichtsteiner | Defender |
| - | Federico Peluso | Defender |
| 8 | Claudio Marchisio | Midfielder |
| 21 | Andrea Pirlo | Midfielder |
| 23 | Arturo Vidal | Midfielder |
| 9 | Mirko Vučinić | Striker |
| 32 | Alessandro Matri | Striker |
| 30 | Marco Storari | Goalkeeper |
| 6 | Paul Pogba | Midfielder |
| 20 | Simone Padoin | Midfielder |
| 39 | Luca Marrone | Midfielder |
| 12 | Sebastian Giovinco | Striker |
| 27 | Fabio Quagliarella | Striker |
| 21 | Nicolas Anelka | Striker |
| Player | Goals | Penalties | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Cristiano Ronaldo Striker Real Madrid |
12 | 0 |
|
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Robert Lewandowski Striker Borussia Dortmund |
10 | 1 |
|
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Thomas Müller Striker FC Bayern München |
8 | 1 |
|
|
Lionel Messi Striker Barcelona |
8 | 0 |
|
|
Burak Yılmaz Striker Galatasaray |
8 | 0 |

