Carrera braced for strong Shakhtar

Juventus assistant coach Massimo Carrera said he is expecting a stern challenge from Shakhtar Donetsk when the two sides meet on Tuesday.

Juve came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with European champions Chelsea in their UEFA Champions League Group E opener.

But their Ukrainian visitors occupy top spot in the group after dispatching FC Nordsjaelland 2-0, which extended their winning run to 25 games – not counting pre-season friendlies – in all competitions.

“Shakhtar are a very technical team, their head coach knows Italian football very well,” Carrera said.

“They have a lot of Brazilian players in their squad, so we need to be very careful because they’re technically strong.

“They’re good on the counter attack and play a good style football. We expect a very tough match.”

Tuesday’s encounter sees Juventus embark on a new dawn with the club set to play their first European match at the new Juventus Stadium.

And while the Italian champions are undefeated in 45 Serie A games, defender and Italy international Giorgio Chiellini said the team must be at their best to get a result.

“We must have respect for our opponent and be aware of their strength,” he said.

“I’m stressing this because everyone said we were lucky because there are weak teams in our group.

“I think we have the second strongest team of the competition, the fact they play in Ukraine means their players are not so well-known, but I can assure you that at least half of them would be regulars in most European teams, I’m sure of that.

“Having said that, we are convinced we can beat them but we need a great Juventus performance tomorrow, one of our best performances.”