Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Sampdoria

When it comes to playing in the game after a loss to a Milan side that happened at the San Siro, we’ve been down this road before. Not so long ago, either. So, in that respect, this isn’t some newfound phenomena for this group of Juventus players.

But Juventus are in the same situation as they were last month after a game at the San Siro — looking to get back on the right foot after a disappointing loss. That time around, Juventus ended up hammering a side in Cagliari that was struggling to do much right. This time around, Juventus face a Sampdoria side that won for the first time in nearly two months over the weekend in the Derby della Lanterna.

I don’t know about you guys, but seeing a repeat of history would be okay with me.

Things are a little different now compared to about six weeks ago, though.

For one, this could very well be the day where we see Claudio Marchisio return to the starting lineup — his first appearance for the club since tearing his ACL in April against Palermo. Things would be coming rather full circle for Juve’s No. 8, stepping onto the same field where he suffered the serious knee injury that has kept him out for the last six months. Then there’s the overlying issue of Juventus having to rebound from another off-and-on performance on Saturday night.

Come the end of tonight’s game, we will officially be a quarter of the way through the league schedule. Juventus could still be in first place come the end of the night. That lead may be two points, it may be four points, it may be five points. Or Juventus could play like absolute crap again, see Roma beat Sassuolo and drop down to second place...but we won’t think about that last part right now. Nope, not gonna think about it.

MATCH INFO

Location: Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy

Kick-off time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy; 7:45 p.m. in England; 2:45 p.m. on the East Coast; 11:45 a.m. on the West Coast

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-3-3): Neto; Dani Alves, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Patrice Evra; Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Claudio Marchisio; Juan Cuadrado, Mario Mandzukic, Gonzalo Higuain

Juventus bench: Emil Audero, Leonardo Loria, Medhi Benatia, Andrea Barzagli, Daniele Rugani, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Alex Sandro, Hernanes, Mario Lemina, Kwadwo Asamoah, Stefano Sturaro, Moise Kean

Sampdoria starting XI (4-3-3): Christian Puggioni; Jacopo Sala, Matias Silvestre, Milan Skriniar, Vasco Regini; Edgar Barreto, Luca Cigarini, Dennis Praet; Ricky Alvarez; Ante Budimir, Patrik Schick

WATCH IT

TV: RAI International (United States); RAI International (Canada); BT Sport 3 (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 1 (Italy)

Online: beIN SPORTS CONNECT U.S.A., fuboTV (United States); beIN Sports CONNECT Canada (Canada); BT Sport Live Streaming (United Kingdom); SKY Go Italia (Italy)

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