Juventus opened the offer to return to big time in Europe

Juventus is looking to take a big step to regain its place among the elite of European football when entertain Artmedia Bratislava in their Champions League final qualifying round, first stage tie on Wednesday.

The Serie A giants have not played in Europe since drawing 0-0 with Arsenal in Turin in April 2006 and the accident outside the tournament overall, 2-0 in the quarterfinals stage, shortly before the explosion of the match fixing scandal that led to its relegation to the second instance.

After the Juve won promotion back to Serie A at the first attempt and finished third in the ranking last season to earn a ticket to the Champions League, the Slovakian champions is not expected to pose a serious threat to their ambitions who won the competition in 1985 and 1996.

In fact, coach Claudio Ranieri is hoping to make quick work of them. "We have to finish the issue of qualification (for the group stage) at home," said Ranieri after his side drew 0-0 at European and English champions Manchester United last week.

"The opposition are not too difficult, we knew that." Ranieri have any head injury, as midfielders Marco Marchionni and Cristiano Zanetti are doubts after missing training on Sunday with muscle strains, while Croatia defender Dario Knezevic, a new signing from relegated Livorno, is the struggle for fitness.

La Juve are also without Czech midfielder Pavel Nedved, who is suspended after being ejected against Arsenal two years ago, as well as advancing midfielders Sebastian Giovinco and Paolo De Ceglie and Claudio Marchisio, all members of the Italian Olympic squad.

But defenders Zdenek Grygera, Jonathan Zebina and Cristian Molinaro and striker Vincenzo Iaquinta are back training after shaking blows to the face. Artmedia scored 10 goals and conceded only three, since it knocked out of Valletta Malta and Finland Tampere United in the first two preliminary rounds.

But the prospect of facing the visitors' prolific attack, led by 25-year-old striker Juraj HALEN, is not keeping Ranieri awake at night. "Artmedia is a team that is much, but we are solid in the back and I'm not worried," he said. "In Manchester showed once more that are reliable in defence."

Apart from a 3-0 thumping of Hamburg in the United Arab Emirates Cup in London this month and a 1-0 defeat to Serie B, Piacenza, Juventus has been so good in the pre-season friendlies. They beat Danish side Brondby in Germany and Borussia Dortmund 1-2 and 1-3, respectively, last month and claimed a 1-0 victory over Arsenal in the Champions League, United Arab Emirates before a respectable tie in Manchester.

Captain Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, who considered a sharper Iaquinta and new Brazilian signing Amauri in recent games, is likely to lead the attack by Juve on Wednesday, according to reports by Italian media. The round of the Champions League final qualifying round takes place tie in Bratislava on August 27.