Juventus vs Pafos is a crucial game: Match preview, stats, line-ups and key info for the Champions League showdown at Allianz Stadium in Turin 🏟️
Today, 10 December 2025, nine games are played in Matchday 6 of the 2025-2026 Champions League. Below you can find all today’s fixtures with CET kick-off time:
18:45 Qarabağ – Ajax
18:45 Villarreal – Copenhagen
21:00 Athletic Bilbao – Paris Saint Germain
21:00 Leverkusen – Newcastle United
21:00 Borussia Dortmund – Bodø/Glimt
21:00 Club Brugge – Arsenal
21:00 Juventus – Pafos
21:00 Real Madrid – Manchester City
21:00 Benfica – Napoli
In this article on TotalSportNews.com you will find all the key information about Juventus vs Pafos: current form and head-to-head record between the two teams, probable line-ups, kick-off time as well as the full refereeing team appointed for this clash.
At the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Luciano Spalletti’s Juventus host Cypriot side Pafos. To move closer to a place in the playoffs, Juventus need all three points. At the moment the two teams sit 23rd and 24th with 6 points each.
Juventus’ path in the Champions League
So far Juventus have collected only 6 points in 5 games, far fewer than you would normally expect from a club of this stature:
16/09/2025 – Juventus vs Borussia Dortmund 4-4
01/10/2025 – Villarreal vs Juventus 2-2
22/10/2025 – Real Madrid vs Juventus 1-0
04/11/2025 – Juventus vs Sporting CP 1-1
25/11/2025 – Bodø/Glimt vs Juventus 2-3
At home Juventus are still unbeaten, but they are still searching for their first home win in this Champions League campaign. Their unbeaten home record this season also stretches to Serie A, where they have won 4 and drawn 2 in Turin. In their last league game the Bianconeri lost to Napoli (Napoli – Juventus 2-1), ending a run of 5 unbeaten Serie A matches. In Europe, Spalletti’s Juventus have managed to reverse their poor start and came back from a difficult trip to Norway with all three points in their pocket.
Pafos’ path in the Champions League
Pafos have qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history. The club comes from the city of the same name, the fourth-largest in Cyprus. It is one of the most fascinating stories in recent European football. The club was founded in 2014 from the merger of AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia, with the aim of creating one strong team capable of representing the entire Pafos region at the highest level of Cypriot football.
Since 2017 the club has been under the control of the Total Sports Investments group, linked to businessman Roman Dubov, who has launched an ambitious professionalisation project, investing in infrastructure, international scouting and a strong core of foreign players.
In 2024 Pafos lifted their first ever trophy, the Cypriot Cup, the prelude to a historic season: in 2024-25 they won their first league title and made their European debut, enjoying an excellent run in the UEFA Europa Conference League all the way to the Round of 16. In 2025-26 the club wrote another remarkable chapter: as champions of Cyprus they came through the Champions League qualifying rounds (Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Dynamo Kyiv, Red Star Belgrade) and reached the new UEFA Champions League League Phase, becoming one of the modern fairy tales of European football.
These are Pafos’ results in the Champions League:
2nd qualifying round
22/07/2025 – Pafos vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-1
30/07/2025 – Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Pafos 0-1
3rd qualifying round
05/08/2025 – Dynamo Kyiv vs Pafos 0-1
12/08/2025 – Pafos vs Dynamo Kyiv 2-0
Playoff round
19/08/2025 – Pafos vs Red Star Belgrade 1-1
26/08/2025 – Red Star Belgrade vs Pafos 1-2
Group stage
17/09/2025 – Olympiacos vs Pafos 0-0
30/09/2025 – Pafos vs Bayern Munich 1-5
21/10/2025 – Kairat Almaty vs Pafos 0-0
05/11/2025 – Pafos vs Villarreal 1-0
26/11/2025 – Pafos vs Monaco 2-2
Zhegrova in the starting XI
Tonight Edon Zhegrova is expected to start from the first minute in place of Francisco Conceição. In goal Spalletti should confirm first-choice keeper Michele Di Gregorio, protected by a “KKK” backline: Kalulu–Kelly–Koopmeiners. The Dutch playmaker has been used in these games as a central defender by Spalletti, with the task of building play from the back. It is a forced experiment due to the many absences (Bremer, Gatti, Rugani), but so far Koopmeiners has largely met expectations, apart from the game in Naples where almost the entire Juventus side were shut down by the Partenopei, with the exception of Kenan Yildiz.
In midfield we should see American Weston McKennie alongside Italians Manuel Locatelli and Fabio Miretti and Andrea Cambiaso. Up front there will be plenty of creativity with Edon Zhegrova and Turkish No.10 Kenan Yildiz playing behind Canadian striker Jonathan David.
On the bench, two central defenders are back from injury: Brazilian Gleison Bremer and Italian Daniele Rugani.
Luciano Spalletti is certainly not underestimating Pafos: “We are facing a tough team with many Brazilians and Portuguese players who know how to play football,” he told Sky microphones.
Juan Carlos Carcedo, coach of Pafos: “We want to win”
Juan Carlos Carcedo sticks with his brave and well-organised Pafos: a compact 4-2-3-1, tight lines and quick transitions to try and hurt Juventus in the spaces. In goal Neofytos Michail has been a guarantee throughout the European campaign, commanding in the air and reactive on his line.
In front of him the experience of David Luiz stands out, the leader of the backline and a huge reference point for the whole team. In midfield Pêpê dictates the tempo, combining aggression, tactical awareness and a clean first pass. Up front, Anderson Silva is the main weapon: he attacks the space, loves one-v-one situations and has already lit up more than one European night.
Juan Carlos Carcedo: “We can’t wait to face them. We’ll do our best to win. We’ll try to get into the top 24 and reach the playoffs.”
David Luiz, Symbol of the Pafos Champions League Fairy Tale
David Luiz Moreira Marinho, simply known as David Luiz, born in Diadema on 22 April 1987, is the wonderful anomaly of this Champions League. At 38, after a career spent with Vitória, Benfica, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea again, Arsenal and the Brazilian national team, he has chosen Pafos as the last big challenge of his career.
An unconventional centre-back, capable of stepping out with the ball at his feet like a deep-lying playmaker and taking free kicks like a No.10, he has practically won everything: Premier League, Ligue 1, several domestic cups, one Champions League and two Europa Leagues with Chelsea, plus the Copa Libertadores and domestic cups with Flamengo.
In 2025 he terminated his contract with Fortaleza and signed with Pafos FC until 2027, returning to Europe through a side door that surprised everyone: the Cypriot club’s announcement went around the world. In reality, there is a clear idea behind his choice, which he explained in an interview: the desire to “take risks” and learn from different environments, bringing his experience into a new context like Cyprus.
In a conversation with a European magazine focused on the Champions League, Luiz said that every big result in the competition would not only be important for him or for the club, but for the entire island: a way to give something back to Cypriot football for everything he has received from the game over the years. On the pitch, his presence is obvious and tangible: he is the emotional leader of Pafos, organises the backline, pushes the team forward and still attacks the box like in his glory days.
His return to the Champions League was initially bitter, with a muscle injury after half an hour in the opening match against Olympiacos. A few weeks later, against Monaco, he scored his first goal in the competition in eight years with a header, once again leaving his mark on a European night and immediately becoming the symbol of the Pafos fairy tale.
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Juventus vs Pafos pre-match information 📋
📅 Match date: 10 December 2025
🕒 Match time: 21:00
🏟️ Venue: Allianz Stadium, Torino (Italy)
🧑⚖️ Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)
Assistant Referees: Angel Nevado, Guadalupe Porras Ayuso (Spa)
Fourth official: José Luis Munuera (Spa)
VAR: Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez (Spa)
AVAR: Cesar Soto Grado (Spa)
Probable line-ups 🎽
Juventus 🦓
3-4-2-1
16 Michele Di Gregorio
15 Pierre Kalulu
6 Lloyd Kelly
8 Teun Koopmeiners
22 Weston McKennie
5 Manuel Locatelli
21 Fabio Miretti
27 Andrea Cambiaso
11 Edon Zhegrova
10 Kenan Yildiz
30 Jonathan David
Team Manager 🧑🏫
Luciano Spalletti
Reserves 🔁
1 Mattia Perin (GK)
24 Daniele Rugani
3 Gleison Bremer
40 Jonas Rouhi
19 Khéphren Thuram
25 João Mário
18 Filip Kostic
7 Francisco Conceição
17 Vasilije Adzic
20 Loïs Openda
Not available players ❌
Federico Gatti (until Jan. 2026)
Dušan Vlahovic (until March 2026)
Arkadiusz Milik (return date unknown)
Pafos 🔵⚪
(4-2-3-1)
93 Neofytos Michail
7 Bruno Felipe
23 Derrick Luckassen
4 David Luiz
5 David Goldar
26 Ivan Sunjic
88 Pêpê
77 João Correia
30 Vlad Dragomir
17 Mislav Orsic
33 Anderson Silva
Reserves 🔁
99 Athanasios Papadoudis
19 Axel Guessand
25 Bruno Langa
2 Kostas Pileas
11 Jajá
10 Landry Dimata
9 Mons Bassouamina
Team Manager 🧑🏫
Juan Carlos Carcedo
Not available players ❌
1 Jay Gorter (expected return: to be determined)
35 Pedrão – Pedro Henrique Franklim da Silva (expected return: to be determined)
8 Domingos Quina (expected return: to be determined)
Sources 🧐
Line-ups: Gazzetta dello Sport (www.gazzetta.it)
Player numbers: Transfermarkt (www.transfermarkt.com)
Results, statistics, tables: Flashscore (www.flashscore.com)
Where to watch ⚽📺
Argentina: Disney+ Premium Argentina
Brazil: Max Brazil
Greece: Cosmote Sport 6 HD
Italy: Sky Sport Uno, Now TV
Japan: U-Next
Saudi beIN Sports Connect
United Kingdom: Discovery+, TNT Sports 8
USA: Paramount+
Rest of the world: Check local listings
(https://www.livesoccertv.com/it/match/juventus-vs-paphos/2nvlc#5385207)
Today we’ll witness a very intriguing match where the result is anything but predictable. Juventus will try to beat the champions of Cyprus but, given the excellent Champions League campaign of the Cypriot side so far, it won’t be an easy task.
David Pafos vs Juventus Goliath?
Today the real Goliath is David Luiz.
Who do you think will win this clash?
Write your predictions in the comments.
Follow all the day’s emotions on TotalSportNews.
Because with us, football is epic. ⚽🔥
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Illustration: David Luiz, Pafos FC defender – Totalsportnews original artwork created with Boss AI assistance. All rights reserved to TotalSportNews.
Image Juventus logo: File from Wikimedia Commons (PD-textlogo / public domain). Registered trademark of Juventus Football Club S.p.A.; editorial use only.
Image Pafos FC logo: official club trademark reproduced for editorial illustration purposes only. All rights reserved to Pafos Football Club.
Image Juventus Flag: Photo by jorono, Pixabay License – free for commercial use, no attribution required.