Italian Super Cup Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. AC Milan

After all the talk about flights being delayed, canceled and then rescheduled, now we get to actually to witness the reason as to why Juventus and Milan 10 or 12 hours to the Middle East. It’s Supercoppa Italiana day, boys and girls. We not only get to see Juventus play against one of the club’s biggest traditional rivals, but also try and get a big and shiny trophy at the end of the game. (For the record, shiny trophies are cool.)

Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

I sure do like when Gigi Buffon raises a trophy above his head and there’s some fancy confetti shooting out of cannons like it’s going out of style.

You know, kinda like the picture to the right of this here text...

That’s what Juventus and Milan are playing for tonight. There may be no chance to see Simone Padoin celebrate alongside San Gigi as he has a firm hold of the Juventus captain’s left arm as the trophy goes skyward or a random Guido Vadala sighting out of nowehre, but there is a big trophy at stake. This would be yet another chance for Juventus to win the Supercoppa, having been in the one-off tournament every single season since this current title run got going five years ago.

Milan players have talked up the importance of tonight’s game. Max Allegri has been talking up the importance of this game. Same goes for Claudio Marchisio and the rest of the group of Juventus players who have been interviewed ever since the 1-0 win over Roma last weekend. So I’m going to go ahead and have the line of thinking that this is an important game.

/reminds self there’s a trophy at stake/

Yep, pretty sure that makes it rather important.

Barring any kind of unforeseen circumstances, tonight will be Buffon’s 600th appearance in a Juventus jersey. Don’t you want to send the G.O.A.T. into appearance No. 601 — and, you know, that whole holiday break thing — knowing that he just came away with winning a trophy the last time he stepped onto the field? I know that will be a pretty cool thing to commemorate another remarkable achievement for an even more remarkable player in Juventus’ history.

MATCH INFO

Location: Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar

Kick-off time: 7:30 p.m. local time in Doha, Qatar; 5:30 p.m. in Italy; 4:30 p.m. in England; 11:30 p.m. on the East Coast; 8:30 a.m. on the West Coast

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-3-1-2): Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Rugani, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Khedira, Marchisio, Sturaro; Pjanic; Higuain, Mandzukic

Juventus bench: Neto, Audero, Barzagli, Benatia, Evra, Coccolo, Hernanes, Lemina, Asamoah, Cuadrado, Pjaca, Dybala

AC Milan starting XI (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Abate, Paletta, Romagnoli, De Sciglio; Kucka, Locatelli, Bertolacci; Suso, Bacca, Bonaventura

WATCH IT

TV: GOLTV USA (United States); Sky Sports 4/HD UK, NOW TV UK, Sky Go UK (United Kingdom); RAI Uno (Italy)

Online: SKY GO Extra (United Kingdom)

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