Zenit St Petersburg vs Juventus

Juventus travel to Gazprom Arena to take on Zenit St Petersburg in their first UEFA Champions League encounter since November 2008.

Zenit picked themselves up from a 1-0 away loss to Champions League holders Chelsea on Matchday 1 to score four unanswered goals against Malmo last time out. Seeking back-to-back Champions League victories for the first time since 2015, when they won five in a row, the Russians will first need to score their first H2H goal at third attempt (D1, L1). Recent history is on their side, though, as they have only lost one of their last five European home encounters against Italian visitors (W2, D2). However, a run of seven defeats from their previous nine Champions League fixtures, coupled with a brace of 2-1 domestic losses ahead of this showdown, can hardly inspire the Zenit faithful. Gazprom Arena has at least been a venue of entertainment lately, as each of Zenit’s last four competitive games here has featured 3+ total goals.

In the meantime, Juventus followed up a 3-0 away thumping of Malmo in their Group H opener with a hard-fought 1-0 home victory over Chelsea last time out. As a result, the record-time Italian champions have now won four consecutive Champions League group stage fixtures without conceding a single goal! Massimiliano Allegri’s bid to replicate his 2018/19 feat, when he guided Juventus to three straight wins at the start of the Champions League campaign, looks like a near-certainty. In addition to being unbeaten in all eight historical matches against Russian opposition in European competitions (W7, D1), the ‘Bianconeri’ have won their last five competitive games on the trot. But a hat-trick of 1-0 competitive wins ahead of this trip means we could have a low-scoring affair on our hands here.

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