Juventus give playing time to Gigi Buffon, Merih Demiral and Daniele Rugani, with Juan Cuadrado in a new role and Cristiano Ronaldo upfront against Bayer Leverkusen.

It kicks off at 20.00 GMT at the BayArena in the final group game of the Champions League.

You can follow the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.

Juventus give playing time to Gigi Buffon, Merih Demiral and Daniele Rugani, with Juan Cuadrado in a new role and Cristiano Ronaldo upfront against Bayer Leverkusen.

It kicks off at 20.00 GMT at the BayArena in the final group game of the Champions League.

You can follow the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.

The Bianconeri are already sure of first place and can therefore afford to rest some players in Germany, although confidence could take a hit after their first competitive defeat of the season last week against Lazio.

There is a shortage of midfielders, as Sami Khedira, Rodrigo Bentancur, Aaron Ramsey, Douglas Costa and Giorgio Chiellini are injured, while Emre Can is not in their Champions League squad.

Maurizio Sarri therefore introduces Cuadrado in a new role as part of the three-man midfield with Miralem Pjanic, as both of them will be suspended in Serie A this weekend with Udinese.

Federico Bernardeschi takes the trequartista spot behind Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo.

There is playing time for Danilo, Rugani, Merih Demiral and Mattia De Sciglio.

Bayer Leverkusen can still qualify for the Round of 16, so are certainly not lacking in motivation this evening.

They are missing suspended Nadiem Amiri, plus injured Mitchell Weiser and Joel Pohjanpalo.

However, there are quite a few surprises, including an apparent change of system to 4-4-2 with talent Kai Havertz and Lucas Alario upfront.

Centre-forward Kevin Volland, who has seven goals and six assists in all competition this season, is on the bench along with Leon Bailey, Jonathan Tah and Julian Baumgartlinger.

Bayer Leverkusen: Hradecky; L Bender, Dragovic, S Bender, Sinkgraven; Bellarabi, Demirbay, Aranguiz, Diaby; Havertz, Alario

Bayer bench: Ozcan, Retsos, Tah, Bailey, Baumgartlinger, Wendell, Volland

Juventus: Buffon; Danilo, Demiral, Rugani, De Sciglio; Cuadrado, Pjanic, Rabiot; Bernardeschi; Higuain, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Szczesny, Dybala, Alex Sandro, Matuidi, Bonucci, Muratore, Portanova

Ref: Bastien (FRA)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *