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November 1st is a significant day in Juventus' history — both in the extreme past and also the present.
You see, today is the day that our beloved club was founded on, with a group of students who lived in Turin forming what would become the greatest Italian football club in all of the land. They won their first league title eight years after their creation and have captured 31 more — yeah, you read that right — ever since then.
Match Preview
For present day Juventus, we are about to find out just how they are going to respond to their last-second loss to Genoa midweek. Will the wake-up call at the Marassi actually work? Or will Max Allegri's squad continue their downward trend of form and continue to see the pressure atop the table from Roma
Juventus' problems won't be solved in one day, nor should we expect them to be. But this game, one against a club that is destined to battle relegation this season, could — and almost certainly should — be the start of something new. They can use it just like Antonio Conte's squad used the debacle in Florence a year ago. You win this one, you've put the past directly where it belongs. And that's in the past.
So while Juventus didn't make my birthday anything to write home about, they can at least try and make the day the club was founded a successful one. Maybe we can't have everything we want, but starting a good run of form on the 117th birthday of our beloved Old Lady has a nice ring to it.
Starting lineups for both teams will be posted RIGHT HERE when they become available. Will Álvaro Morata get a much-deserved start? What about Daniele Rugani against the club that owns his contract? What about Rubinho's unibrow? There's so many questions to answer over the course of the next couple of hours!
UPDATE: LINEUPS ARE IN!
Juventus XI (3-5-2): Buffon; Ogbonna, Bonucci, Chiellini; Pereyra, Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Asamoah; Giovinco, Morata
Juventus bench: Storari, Rubinho, Lichtsteiner, Romulo, Padoin, Pogba, Mattiello, Tevez, Coman, Llorente
Empoli XI (4-3-1-2): Bassi; Laurini, Tonelli, Rugani, Mario Rui; Vecino, Valdifiori, Croce; Zielinski; Pucciarelli, Maccarone
