Last year's finalists and serial Serie A winners against the 2013 champions and Bundesliga title holders – Juventus vs Bayern Munich would have been a match worthy of the UEFA Champions League 2015-16 final, but the two teams will, instead, battle it out in the last 16, starting with the first leg in Turin on Tuesday.
Juventus did exceedingly well last season in reaching the final, where a Barcelona team, who just took their chances better, eventually beat them. Having made a difficult start to the season, Massimiliano Allegri's men have found their groove since the turn of the year, and go into this match confident of pushing Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich to the absolute limit.
"Bayern have a way of playing and I doubt they are going to change that," Allegri, who believes 0-0 at home will be a good first leg result against the favoured team, told UEFA's official website. "We've got to play a great game in defence but above all be very good at relieving the pressure when we get possession. We've got to be on their level technically and tactically.
"We deserved to reach the last 16, but this fixture is more like a semifinal."
Bayern would not have been too happy drawing Juventus in the round of 16, either, and with the German champions currently going through an injury crisis in central defence, Juventus will fancy their chances of scoring a few goals in this first leg.
Such are the injury problems at the back for Bayern that Joshua Kimmich and David Alaba are expected to start in the centre of the defence, with Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber and Javi Martinez all out. Serdar Tasci and Mehdi Benatia are options for Guardiola as well, but the manager does not thing either of them are ready, with the former only recently joining the club and the latter just returning from injury.
"We have [injury] problems, but what can we do? We hardly have any players -- we have Tasci and Benatia, but they have either just arrived or trained for only two or three days," Guardiola said. "I expect Juve to press high up the field, but if we can cope with that pressure, then we will see.
"We don't have any central defenders – that's how it is. We've got to attack intelligently and avoid conceding setpieces as they are maybe the best team in Europe from set pieces."
This match will be extra special for Arturo Vidal, who returns to Juventus having moved to Bayern Munich in the summer, after four years with the Italian champions. Guardiola will hope Vidal produces one of his magical performances in the first leg, so that Bayern can breathe better heading into the second leg of this intriguing UEFA Champions League last 16 tie.
Where to Watch Live
Juventus vs Bayern Munich is set to begin at 8.45 pm local time (1.15 am IST, 2.45 pm ET, 7.45 pm GMT). Ten Sports will broadcast the UEFA Champions League match live in India, while the game can also be watched via live streaming online on Ten Sports Live.
Viewers in the UK can watch the match live on BT Sport 2, with Watch BT Sport and the BT Sport App being the online live stream options. Premium Sport will broadcast the match live in Italy, while viewers in Germany can watch Juventus vs Bayern live on Sky Sport 1. Viewers in Germany can also watch the match via live streaming online on Sky Go Germany.
Watch Juventus vs Bayern live in the US live on Fox Sports 2, while the live stream option is on FoxSoccer2Go.
The Champions League game will be shown live in Canada, North Africa, Middle East, Australia, Spain, France, Indonesia and Thailand on Bein Sports, while the online live streaming option is on Bein Sports Connect.