Real Madrid train in the Juventus Stadium                                   The Juventus Stadium was the scenario of Real Madrid’s final training session before their fourth game in the Champion’s League Group Phase in which they will face Juventus tomorrow (8.45 pm, La 1). In the home team’s stadium, and with the ball as protagonist, Carlo Ancelotti split the squad into two groups, one consisting of the 19 outfield players, the other, the three goalkeepers, who underwent specific training alongside goalkeeper coach Villiam Vecchi.

Real Madrid visit the Juventus Stadium for the first timeReal Madrid will visit the Juventus Stadium for the first time. Located exactly where the old Delle Alpi stadium was and opened in September 2011, it will host the final of the Europa League in 2014. This will also be the first time that the final of this competition has been held in Italy. The Juventus museum is located inside the ground, which has a capacity of 41,000 spectators and made Madrid’s next opponent the first team in Italy to own its own ground. There is also the Walk of Fame with stars featuring the names of the 50 most important players in the club’s history.

The Juventus Stadium was inaugurated on 8 September 2011 with a match against Notts County from England, the club from which Juventus inherited their kit, where they celebrated the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, paid homage to the club’s history and also paid tribute to the victims of the Heysel tragedy.

The museum, opened in May of last year, has various rooms where all of the club’s titles and the shirts of the most important players in Juventus’s history are on display, but what makes this stadium unique is the Walk of Fame located outside with the names and stars of the club’s 50 most important players. Chosen by the fans on the website, the former Madrid player Luis del Sol and the former Madrid coach Fabio Capello stand out amongst others. Zinedine Zidane, the current deputy manager, also has this honour. Del Piero, Buffon, Roberto Baggio, Dino Zoff, Platini, Davids and Antonio Conte himself are also amongst those honoured by the Juventus fans.

Real Madrid

Real Madrid seeks to qualify for the round of sixteen on their first official visit to Juventus StadiumThere are only three games left before the end of the Group Phase and Real Madrid face Juventus in the first of them with a double objective: to qualify for the round of sixteen and to do so as group leaders.  In order to go through to the next round they must win on their first official visit to the Italians' new stadium or draw and hope that Galatasaray score in their away match against Copenhagen. To finish as group leaders they need to earn three points while the Turkish side misses out on the same.

Qualification aside, the match will be interesting for many reasons. The Whites, who have scored in each of their last 19 away matches in the tournament, go up against the winners of the last two editions of the Italian league, who remain unbeaten at home in official competition after the six matches they've played, winning five of them. In addition, Carlo Ancelotti faces his first match in his native country as the Whites' coach and does so against a team he once coached and for whom his assistant coach, Zinedine Zidane, once played. You can hardly ask for more from what promises to be a big match, with both teams coming off the back of wins in their respective championships.