Since the beginning of the new year, Juventus’ opponent this evening, Bologna, has played 12 Serie A fixtures. In a nicely divvied up kind of way, there’s been two more draws than wins and two more losses than draws, giving this 12th-place side just about the trend of results that you would expect from a team that is sitting in the position they currently are.
Yes, they are playing without their beloved manager and his fantastic style on the touchline. (We hope you feel well soon again, Sinisa! We can’t wait to see the Jordans you bust out for your return to the sideline.) But, at the same time, this is a Bologna team that not so long ago — OK, two weeks ago to be exact — kept the team that is currently leading the league, Serie A, off the scoreboard for 90-plus minutes.
So, yes, you can see why Max Allegri might be expecting a tough game even though Bologna is far from a team that should be a tough out. That’s just how Allegri choses to play it. He’s always going to be cautious — especially during a pre-match press conference — when describing his opponent no matter what form they are in. And while Bologna is far from a squad that is in great form or anything close to it, the way Allegri spoke about tonight’s opposition was one that was almost a “proceed with caution” approach.
But he knows what’s at stake. He knows that the Serie A title is now basically not possible and that finishing in the top four is the only domestic goal outside of trying to win the Coppa Italia. He said that Juve likely need 10 points out of the final six games to get into the Champions League next season.
He’s done the math, crunched some numbers and now we get to see if it happens.
Oh, and in case you forgot or didn’t know yet, Juventus will be wearing their special new fourth kit that was unveiled to the masses first thing Friday morning.
So that should be fun. Or maybe not if you don’t like them all that much.
But no matter if they were wearing their classic black and white stripes or this new artist-inspired blue and yellow (?) kit that is another interesting choice to bust out once a season.
MATCH INFO
When: Saturday, April 16, 2022.
Where: Allianz Stadium Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 6:30 p.m. local time in Italy and around Europe, 5:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, 9:30 a.m. Pacific time.
STARTING LINEUPS
Juventus starting XI (4-3-3?): Szczesny; De Sciglio, de Ligt, Chiellini, Pellegrini; Cuadrado, Danilo, Rabiot; Dybala, Vlahovic, Morata.
Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Alex Sandro, Bonucci, Rugani, Bernardeschi, Zakaria, Miretti, Kean.
Bologna starting XI (3-5-2): Skorupski; Soumaoro, Medel, Theate; Hickey, Svanberg, Schouten, Soriano, Dijks; Arnautovic, Orsolini.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: BT Sport 3 (United Kingdom).
Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); BTSport.com, BT Sport app (United Kingdom); DAZN (Italy).
Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.
