After Lazio bowed out of in the final qualifying stage, Serie A’s Champions League hopes and dreams once again rest on the shoulders of Juventus and Roma.
Entering the draw, Juve was placed in a seeding pot with the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St. Petersburg and PSV Eindhoven. Essentially, the Bianconeri were guaranteed to avoid those teams in the group stage.
Roma’s pot included Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Lyon, Dynamo Kiev, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow and Galatasaray.
Following the draw, Juventus was placed in Group D with Manchester City, Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach. Their Roman counterparts drew Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen and BATE Borisov.
Both teams have winnable games in the group stage, but both also face stern tests.
Juventus: Challenging, but possible
The Old Lady was nonetheless unlucky to draw Manchester City who, despite loaning out forwards Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko and selling Alvaro Negredo, still have Sergio Aguero leading the attack. Throw in dangerous midfielders like David Silva, Samir Nasri, Yaya Toure and new addition Raheem Sterling and City has quite the potent squad. The Citizens are off to a flying start in the Premier League, dispatching West Brom, Chelsea and Everton by a cumulative score of 8-0.
In addition to the current Premier League leaders, Juve also drew last season’s Europa League winners, Sevilla. The Spanish club lost both Carlos Bacca and Aleix Vidal, but return a strong squad. Their forward line will be dotted with familiar faces to the Bianconeri. Recently-sold forward Fernando Llorente is now a Sevilla player, as is former Juve striker Ciro Immobile.
It seems Max Allegri’s squad will get a fairly immediate reunion with Llorente, while Immobile faces his former team in the Champions League for the second straight year. The Italian lost out to his ex-employers with Borussia Dortmund during last season’s knockout stages.
Sevilla opened La Liga play with a scoreless draw away to Malaga while dropping the UEFA Super Cup to Barcelona 5-4.
Last but not least, Monchengladbach was one of the two toughest teams Juve could have drawn out of the fourth seeding pot. Wolfsburg was also in the pot, but the rest of the teams included the likes of Gent, Malmo and Astana.
While City has opened the Premier League season on a roll, Gladbach has done nothing of the sort. The Germans were annihilated 4-0 away to Dortmund before losing to Mainz at home. The team added to its Swiss spine this transfer window, signing forward Josip Drmic to join goalkeeper Yann Sommer and midfielder Granit Xhaka.
All in all, Juve’s group stage is tough, but navigable. The Bianconeri’s talent and experience should see them through in games against Gladbach and Sevilla, while City will provide a different test. City has struggled in past Champions League seasons, but look stronger this season. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the teams trade wins, or in fact draw a game or two. Allegri’s men can take solace in the fact that a team they beat by 17 points in the standings (Roma) went into Manchester and earned a 1-1 draw last season.
Roma: A tough test
While Juventus was lucky to avoid a European heavyweight like Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid, Roma weren't as lucky.
The Giallorossi are stuck with Barcelona.
The Romans improved their club in the off-season with a plethora of signings, which included the likes of Edin Dzeko, Mohamed Salah, Lucas Digne and Wojciech Szczesny, but face an extremely tough test in the reigning Champions League winners.
There is hope for Roma as Barcelona lost Xavi and Pedro in the offseason and can’t debut the team’s two marquee signings, Vidal and Arda Turan until January. Still, this is a team with Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta. It’s unlikely that Roma is able to steal points from the Catalans, but they stand a better chance than when Barcelona employed Xavi and Pedro.
Even if Roma lose both games to Barca, the team’s most vital games will come against Bayer Leverkusen and BATE Borisov.
Leverkusen lost Gonzalo Castro and Drmic in the transfer window, but have nonetheless started strong in the Bundesliga. They sit tied with Dortmund and Bayern Munich atop the table with six points from two games. The German club trumped Hoffenheim at home to open the season before snagging a victory at Hannover.
Bayer will likely be looking to improve upon its finish from last season, when the team lost to Atletico on penalties in the round of 16. This means getting out of the group stage, and potentially sending Roma back to the Europa League in the process. The Romans will need to be on top form against their German opponents.
The last team in the group, BATE Borisov, probably won’t be the surprise package they were a few years ago when they won games against Lille and Bayern Munich in the group stage. Featuring a roster that includes former Barca and Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb, the minnows won’t be a pushover. They made it this far in the competition for a reason. But, if Roma is ambitious about advancing in the Champions League, the team must take care of business against its Belarus-based opposition.
How will they fare?
Juventus and Roma both face tough tests in the Champions League group stages. Juve’s situation is more manageable, but both clubs will need to bring their best if they are to advance to the knockout stages.