La Decima chasers Real Madrid face a first real test of the new Champions League campaign as they play host to Serie A giants Juventus.

Having failed to win any of their opening two group matches, the Bianconeri will be under pressure to show some improvement at Santiago Bernabeu.

Real Madrid had another slow start to their La Liga campaign, dropping five points in first five league matches, but they have recently managed to close the gap behind leaders Barcelona to three points.

Even if los Blancos recovered well from the home defeat to arch rivals Atletico Madrid by beating Levante and Malaga, their sub-par performances are enough to suggest the team are still finding their form.

Oddly enough, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have been absolutely amazing in the Champions League so far, scoring no less than ten goals in victories over Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen.

Chances are they will have a much tougher task against the reigning Serie A champions, so there is little value in odds of 1.62 (5/8) offered on home win.

Gareth Bale is finally expected to return to the starting line-up, with the Welshman 2.88 (17/9) to mark his return with a goal.

Xabi Alonso has resumed full training, but is unlikely to start after such a long injury lay-off, while Sergio Ramos, Karim Benzema and Fabio Coentrao are back in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Casillas – Arbeloa, Ramos, Pepe, Marcelo – Modric, Khedira – Bale, Isco, Ronaldo – Benzema.

Having kept the entire title-winning squad together while also signing Tevez, Llorente and Ogbonna, Juventus were tipped to further improve on their last season’s showings.

Antonio Conte’s side indeed enjoyed a bright start, hammering Lazio in the Italian Super Cup match before winning their first two league games, but things soon started taking a turn for the worse.

Back to back draws against Inter and FC Copenhagen acted as a real blow to the players’ confidence, but Juventus, nonetheless, managed to record three straight victories in the league to revive their title bid.

The Bianconeri, however, seriously hurt their chances of reaching the Champions League group stages with a home draw against Galatasaray, whereas weekend’s defeat to Fiorentina came at a really bad time.

With the squad packed with Italy internationals and world-class players from abroad, Juventus should have no problems recovering from the Viola setback, and odds of 6.50 (11/2) for an away win do look tempting.

Key midfielder and former Real Madrid target Arturo Vidal is set to be recalled, but Mirko Vucinic, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Fabio Quagliarella remain sidelined.

Probable starting line-up (3-5-1-1): Buffon – Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini – Padoin, Vidal, Pirlo, Pogba, Asamoah – Marchisio – Tevez.