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First things first: Some words for the wise, if you will, courtesy of Juventus director general Beppe Marotta.
#Marotta: We all want to go to Florence and win, that’s our goal. When we play in a competition, we always aim to go all the way. #UEL
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) March 16, 2014
These came after Juve's last-minute win over Genoa on Sunday. It's been four days since the man who makes a whole lot of decisions for the best team in Italy had some things to say following the 1-0 victory at the Ferraris.
My first thought after reading said quote: Prove it.
Winning in Florence won't be easy to begin with — that's even before you factor in the fact Fiorentina has an away goal in their back pocket. And on top of that, Juve aren't playing as well as they were a few months ago. Could that be a recipe for another European exit? It's not exactly an ideal situation. But much like not beating a certain team from Denmark in another certain European competition, this is the bed that Juventus has made for itself.
Nothing we can do about it now. Well, other than keeping the quest to have the Europa League final be a home game, of course. There's that minor detail.
Juventus vs. Fiorentina. Ninety minutes — or maybe even some bonus football! — to settle who advances to the Europa League quarterfinals. What could possibly go wrong?
That's all I've got. On with the show.
Starting lineups will be posted RIGHT HERE when they become available. Maybe Juventus can win and put us all in a good mood. I'd love for that to happen. And maybe you do, too. We'll see.
UPDATE: LINEUPS ARE IN!
Juventus XI (3-5-2): Buffon; Caceres, Bonucci, Chiellini; Isla, Vidal, Pirlo, Pogba, Asamoah; Tevez, Llorente
Juventus bench: Storari, Lichtsteiner, Mattiello, Romagna, Padoin, Vucinic, Osvaldo
Fiorentina XI (4-3-1-2): Neto; Cuadrado, Gonzalo Rodriguez, Savic, Tomovic; Aquilani, Pizarro, Vargas; ; Borja Valero; Gomez, Ilicic
Fiorentina bench: Rosati, Roncaglia, Pasqual, Bakic, Joaquin, Ambrosini, Matri
