[Mario]

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
11/4/2014

Juventus vs Olympiacos

Home - Juventus
Last away matches - W-L-L-D-L-W

Juventus are in trouble after already suffering from 2 defeats in group A. Those were painful, away defeats. Firstly, Allegri’s men lost at Vicente Calderon against Atletico Madrid (0:1), despite the fact that they controlled this match and were a better side. Two weeks ago Juventus lost very important game against Olympiakos (0:1 again). Italian champions played poorly in the first half, but they greatly improved after the break. However, goalkeeper Roberto did wonders between the posts and saved his team many times. Now, hosts realize how important Tuesday’s match is. “We've got to remain calm. We have to concentrate and play well, with high intensity. Those will be 95 minutes in which we are practically playing for our future in the Champions League. Winning is obligatory,” said coach Massimiliano Allegri. He also appears to know what his side need do better than they did 2 weeks ago: “We need to be technically stronger than we were in Greece because we got a lot of passes wrong, especially in the first half. We've got to make the most of the time in order to get the result that we want.” Allegri also realizes that his side should win by at least 2 goals, in order to have better head-to-head statistics against Olympiakos.

Away - Olympiacos
Last away matches - D-W-L-L-W-D

This game will be do or die for Juventus, a loss to Olympiakos will more or less end Juventus participation in the Champions League this year and that will not be viewed well in Italy. The Italian Champions have really struggled in Europe's elite competition the last couple of years although it is not really apparent why. With a star studded team including tevez, pirlo, morata, vidal and pogba there is no reason that Juve should be struggling to beat the likes of Malmo and Olympiakos, with no disrespect meant to the aforementioned. The team budgets are astronomically different with Juventus' wage bill probably 100 times larger. Yet when it comes to the Champions League Juventus seem unable to raise their game on the big occasion.Olympiakos it could be argues have over achieved thus far with two wins from three and both of them against the "better" sides in the group Athletico Madrid and Juventus. Kasami and Mitroglu will give Olympiakos a chance on the counter attack, both players have decent pace and know where the goals are. It could be a long evening up front though as Juventus will surely dominate possession again after holding 60% of the ball in the return fixture in Greece.

Asian Handicap
Home - (-1.25)
Away - (+1.25)
Pick - Olympiacos (+1.25)
Odds - 2.23
Stakes - 9/10