Juventus looking to secure qualification

Juventus looking to secure qualification

Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara insists his team will be taking nothing for granted against Bordeaux on Wednesday night despite having one foot in the Champions League knockout phase.

The Serie A outfit travel to France knowing they will join Bordeaux in the next round by at least matching Bayern Munich's result at home to Maccabi Haifa in the other Group A game.

Ferrara wants his side to make sure of qualification before next month's meeting with in Turin with Bayern, over whom they currently hold a four-point advantage.

"We have a great chance of qualifying for the second round of the Champions League so our concentration is fully on what we do against Bordeaux," Ferrara said after his side's 1-0 victory over Udinese on Sunday.

That win, courtesy of a Fabio Grosso goal, took Juve into second place in Serie A, five points behind leaders Inter Milan.

Juve are preparing for a crucial period of games over the coming fortnight, which is why they were happy to be able to take it a little easier towards the end of the Udinese game.

"We have an important schedule coming up," said defender Giorgio Chiellini. "We have a big test on Wednesday in France, then a trip to Sardinia to meet Cagliari before hosting Inter the following weekend.

"Those are going to be very difficult and we have got to save our energy a little, but we are ready for these games and now it gets interesting."

Juventus will welcome back captain Alessandro Del Piero to Champions League action.

Del Piero returned to play at the weekend after a long injury lay-off and is set to lead Juve's attack on Wednesday night.

"My season started on Sunday," said Del Piero. "Now I hope we can give continuity to our results and claim an important win in Bordeaux."

Juve will be without injured strikers David Trezeguet and Vincenzo Iaquinta.

Ligue 1 champions Bordeaux host Juve eager to bounce back from last weekend's shock 1-0 defeat to Valenciennes, their first loss at home in two years.

The result saw Les Girondins drop to second in the standings, one point behind Auxerre.

Despite having already clinched a place in the next round, Bordeaux will have plenty of motivation to beat Juve.

A victory would ensure they finish top of the group and record their best ever points total in the competition.

They currently have 10 points, two more than Juve.

Laurent Blanc's men are optimistic of claiming maximum points having won all their European games at the Stade Jacques Chaban-Delmas this season.

However, Juve go into the game with the best defensive record in the competition having conceded just one goal so far.

Bordeaux will be without Moroccan forward Marouane Chamakh and midfielder Yoann Gourcuff through injury.