Champions League Preview: Club Brugge vs Juventus – Team News, Line-ups & Prediction | OneFootball

Brimming with confidence after a derby win against Milan last weekend, Juventus head into the penultimate round of the UEFA Champions League first phase in high spirits. Thiago Motta’s charges travel to the Jan Breydel Stadium to take on Belgian champions Club Brugge in a must-win fixture.

Samuel Mbangula and Tim Weah inspired a second-half blitz, helping Juventus avenge a heartbreaking Supercoppa Italiana exit and grab their first Serie A win in 2025. After putting an underwhelming run of three consecutive league draws to bed, the Turin giants resume their continental duties with renewed optimism.

Juventus stunned perennial Premier League champions Manchester City 2-0 in their last Champions League outing, courtesy of second-half strikes from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie. In doing so, Motta’s men have closed the gap on eighth-placed Lille to only two points with two games to go.

As such, anything other than victory in Bruges would effectively rule Juventus out of the race for automatic knockout qualification. However, the hosts will not go down without a fight as they boast a three-point lead on 25th-placed Paris Saint-Germain following a spirited 2-1 home triumph against Sporting CP last time out.

Beating Juventus would seal Club Brugge’s playoff berth. Nicky Hayen’s lads head into proceedings in a buoyant mood after a 4-2 home win against domestic rivals Beerschot VA extended their winning streak in all competitions to five matches.

Match Preview

Club Brugge

Those five victories form part of a larger 18-game unbeaten run in competitive action (W15, D3), setting the Belgians up nicely for this high-stakes fixture. However, they must rewrite history to make it 19 in a row, considering they remain the last Belgian side to beat Italian opposition in the Champions League, achieving that feat against Milan in 2003.

Milan repaid that kindness in this season’s league phase, demolishing Club Brugge 3-1 at the San Siro. That’s one of their two European defeats this term (W3, D1), yet confidence stems from their home resurgence. Following a 3-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Gameweek 1, Hayen’s men have won back-to-back home matches at Europe’s top table.

Aston Villa and Sporting fell victim to Brugge’s return to form, with both wins yielding a narrow one-goal margin. Another success would likely warrant a low-scoring contest, considering the Belgian giants lament the worst scoring record in the current top 24 with a mere six goals.

Against this backdrop, they’ve netted at least two in their last eight outings at Jan Breydel.

Juventus

Juventus’ win against Pep Guardiola’s side halted their unenviable three-game winless run in the Champions League (D2, L1), eclipsing their scoring tally from those three matches. Moreover, they’ve kept a clean sheet in back-to-back European fixtures, increasing the likelihood of shutting out Brugge’s uneventful frontline.

Motta breathed a sigh of relief last Saturday as the win against Milan arrested his side’s four-game winless streak in all competitions (D3, L1). Indeed, it’s been a season of stalemates for Juventus, whose 62% of Serie A matches have ended all square. Furthermore, six of their last seven away games have finished level (W1).

That sequence includes draws against Aston Villa and Lille in this competition, with Juventus failing to score from open play on both occasions. However, the record-time Italian champions have broken the deadlock in their last four competitive outings on the road, highlighting the potential for a quick-fire start.

Team News

Club Brugge have undergone some personnel changes in January. Apart from selling star winger Andreas Skov Olsen to Wolfsburg, they released Philip Zinckernagel, Dedryck Boyata, and Kamal Sowah. Defender Zaid Romero is the only absentee from the current crop.

As for Juventus, long-term absentees Arkadiusz Milik, Juan Cabal, and Gleison Bremer remain unavailable for selection. Kenan Yildiz picked up a minor injury against Milan and could surrender his place in the starting XI to Francisco Conceicao, who’s on the verge of returning to the squad.

Club Brugge vs Juventus Potential Starting Line-ups

Club Brugge (6-3-1): Mignolet; Sabbe, Ordonez, Mechele, De Cuyper; Onyedika, Jashari; Vetlesen, Vanaken, Skoras; Jutgla.

Club Brugge vs Juventus Prediction

Juventus have only won back-to-back matches three times this season, underscoring a notorious lack of consistency under Motta. Despite not losing away from home since April 2024, ten of their 15 road trips in that sequence have ended level (D5). Therefore, a share of the spoils wouldn’t surprise us.