Juventus head coach Claudio Ranieri has seen his team's performance improve

Juventus, who have won three straight games to get back into the Serie A's title race, lead the Champions League group with seven points from three matches.

Madrid trails the Bianconeri by one point, while BATE Borisov has two and Zenit St. Petersburg one.

A poor stretch following a 2-1 loss at Turin two weeks ago was further compounded on Sunday when Madrid missed an opportunity to join Barcelona at the top of the Spanish league.

A listless display at Almeria was capped by a late collapse for a 1-1 draw.

Madrid uncertain

Third-place Madrid did stretch their unbeaten league run to nine games but have only one victory in their last four in all competitions, including a 3-2 loss to third-division Real Union in the Copa del Rey last week.

Suddenly, questions are creeping in at the most inopportune time.

"What we have to do is correct the errors that we are making and return to playing at a high level," defender Gabriel Heinze said.

Striker Ruud van Nistelrooy and defender Miguel Torres trained with the team on Tuesday and are expected to return from injury, while centre back Pepe is believed to have recovered from a minor injury picked up at Almeria.

Midfielder Ruben de la Red will be out as he continues to recover after collapsing during the match at Union.

Alessandro Del Piero of Juventus and Gabriel Heinze get stuck in during their last clash

Juve on form

Juventus have turned their Serie A fortunes around since the win over Madrid, including victories in the Turin city derby and Saturday's 2-0 result against AS Roma.

Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero, who scored the opener against Madrid, found the back of the net again against Roma, with a 30-metre free kick.

Juve remains without goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, striker David Trezeguet and midfielder Cristiano Zanetti.

Midfielder Mauro Camoranesi remains an injury doubt.

Manager Claudio Ranieri can choose from Del Piero, Vincenzo Iaquinta or Amauri, who scored the winner against the Spanish champion, in attack.

"In Spain I hope we will already be able to reach the qualification for the next round, but it will be a very difficult game," said Del Piero.

"What happened to us recently should teach us that we've always got to remain very focused."

Madrid has lost only four times in 29 meetings against Italian opponents at the Santiago Bernabeu.

But last season, Roma beat Madrid 2-1 to knock the Spanish side out in first round of the knockout stage.

Juventus last won in the Spanish capital during the 1961-'62 season.

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