Former Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo has backed the Italian giants to challenge for the Champions League this season.

The Old Lady have not scooped Europe's top prize since 1996, most recently reaching the final in 2015 when they were beaten by Barcelona in what proved to be Pirlo's last game for the club.

Juve will come up against Barca again in the quarter-finals of this season's competition, but Pirlo is confident that the Italian champions can hold their own against any other team on the continent.

"Juve can win the Champions League. They are up to the level of the others, if not above that. They are more tactically compact and can certainly go all the way," he told Corriere dello Sport.

"We were convinced that we could do it [in 2015] even if Barcelona had that trio in attack who could win the game at any moment. We started badly, but then got back on track, equalised and had the chances to win it. When you lose a final it is always bad, but for Juventus it was even worse.

"It had been such a long time since this club had won the Champions League. It was very painful for me too, as it would have been the perfect way to come full circle, achieving an objective I had set myself when I first joined the Bianconeri. After that night, I had nothing left."

The first leg of Juve's quarter-final with Barcelona will take place in Turin on April 11.