Melbourne this week plays host to three big European football clubs when the International Champions Cup series returns after a successful tour last season. Italian champion Juventus has already touched town, having arrived last Monday, and will kick off the three-match series on Saturday night with a match at the MCG against our very own Melbourne Victory. The squad had its first training session at Lakeside Stadium on Tuesday.

Atletico Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur, runners up in their respective leagues last season, are due in town for the other two matches of the series this week.

The Juventus squad is missing several key players, who have been exempted from the pre-season tour to Australia to allow them time to recover from a hectic schedule. Thirteen of Juventus’ squad were in action with various countries at the recent Euro 2016 Championship. Notable absences from the squad which arrived in Melbourne are, Paul Pogba, Patrice Evra (France), keeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon, Georgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Simone Zazo, Andrea Barzagli, Stefano Sturaro (Italy), Sammy Khedira (Germany), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia) and Stephan Lichtsteiner (Switzerland).

Despite the absence of many big-name Juventus stars, Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat believes fans can still expect to see a top quality Juventus team when it takes on Victory.

“Regardless of who comes out it will be a formidable opponent. Some very good players. It’s a little bit challenging for us. But it’s something we’ve had to plan for throughout the off-season, in terms of making sure we get the players in a safe condition, to be able to compete in the game on Saturday, but at the same time making sure we focus on October in our first game in the A-League season,” Muscat said, speaking on SEN radio earlier this week.

Although having just commenced the pre-season training, Victory already faces a congested schedule over the next two weeks, with a tour match to follow next Sunday against visiting Atletico Madrid in Geelong, followed midweek by an FFA Cup fixture against the Newcastle Jets. Muscat hinted that rotating his squad and giving some of the younger players game time is on the cards to get his squad through these competitive games unscathed.

Muscat commented on the early fixture congestion saying: “Can you believe it? Well, considering the fixture headaches we had last season, I’m not surprised. And that’s disappointing when I say I’m not surprised because these games against Juventus and Atletico are FFA sanctioned games, so they’re well aware of them. And to tell us to play immediately after that on the Wednesday night, something’s got to give. There are a lot of young players in our team in our youth team, who are very excited because it looks like they’ll be getting a run in one competition or another. But it’s exciting. We look forward to it. If previous games against these big European clubs are anything to go by, it’ll be an exceptional night.”

The other two ICC matches scheduled for the coming week in Melbourne are:
Match 2: Juventus v Tottenham Hotspur (26 July, MCG)
Match 3: Tottenham Hotspur v Atletico Madrid (29 July MCG)

On Sunday 31 July, Melbourne Victory take on Atletico Madrid at Simmonds Stadium in Geelong in a tour match.