:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45694010/462425580.0.jpg)
Max Allegri sat in front of reporters, answering questions as he does every day before Juventus takes the field. There were the normal questions about the next opponent, who's playing up front and things of that ilk. Some answers were interesting, others were stock and general responses — something you'd expect Allegri to say entering a game a Cesena side that hasn't had anything close to a good season in their return to Serie A.
So what did Allegri have to say about today's game 24 hours beforehand?
"It will be a tough game. Cesena have hit some good form and we'll be playing on artificial surface, meaning the ball moves quicker and we'll have to be at the races from a technical standpoint. I won't be rotating the starting line-up, but will send out the best possible team."
(Source: juventus.com)
Match Preview
The trip to Cesena's Stadio Dino Manuzzi and the accompanying artificial turf is one Juve hasn't made since Antonio Conte's first year as manager. It's not exactly the textbook kind of field to play on considering the grass fields Juventus will play its other 37 Serie A games on, but it's a change. And the kind of change Juventus will have to deal with for the next couple of hours.
Can they do it?
Well, regardless of the field conditions, they should considering of how far apart the two clubs are in the Serie A table these days.
So here's the question: Can Juventus beat Cesena like the first-place team in Serie A should be a relegation battler? Not one of those 1-0 specials that has us frustrated as hell. One of those games like the first time Juve and Cesena played one another this season.
Starting lineups for both Juventus and Cesena will be posted RIGHT HERE when they become available. Will the expected Fernando Llorente and Álvaro Morata partnership go down? Or will Allegri's pre-match comments about not being sure of his starting strikers actually come to fruition? Let us see, because everything else seems pretty much set in stone. How ... exciting? Yeah, not really.
UPDATE: LINEUPS ARE IN!
Juventus XI (4-3-1-2): Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Ogbonna, Evra; Pogba, Pirlo, Marchisio; Vidal; Llorente, Morata
Juventus bench: Storari, Rubinho, Barzagli, Chiellini, De Ceglie, Padoin, Sturaro, Pepe, Pereyra, Coman
Cesena XI (4-3-2-1): Leali; Perico, Lucchini, Krajnc, Renzetti; Ze Eduardo, De Feudis, Giorgi; Brienza; Defrel, Djuric
