Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Atalanta

The month of September is no more. October is here, and with it comes quite the intriguing game to kickoff the month that ends with Halloween candy being handed out to little kids and teenagers holding pillow cases in place of plastic bags.

Today is the first day of October. Juventus, fresh off their first Champions League win of the young season, has one more game before the monthly international break arrives to bug the absolute mess out of all of us. That game isn’t against a relegation battler that sees Juve be massive favorites over. Nope, none of that.

Juventus facing Atalanta in Bergamo is quite a Sunday night fixture and a way to go into the international break. It’s not because both teams are very good. But there’s also the fact that some of Atalanta’s best players are currently on loan from Juventus and looking to impress their parent club while also trying to beat them.

Can they?

That’s why we’re going to watch.

Juventus has been perfect on the Serie A season in record only. But the last time they faced a league opponent it was arguably their best showing of the year as they demolished Torino in the Derby della Mole. Some of that had to do with the fact that Toro was playing with 10 men. Some of it also had to do with the fact that Juventus played pretty damn well regardless of how many Torino players were on the field.

But hey, we’ll take it, right?

Now we get to continue Bentancur Fever as the young Uruguayan is set to start alongside Blaise Matuidi. We get to see whether Paulo Dybala can continue his ridiculous start to the Serie A season when it comes to scoring his league-best total in goals.

And, most of all, we get to see if Juventus can make it seven wins through the first seven Serie A games this season.

Is a bright start to October in Bergamo on the horizon? I can think of a lot worse.

MATCH INFO

Location: Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, Bergamo, Italy

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

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-2-3-1): Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Benatia, Chiellini, Asamoah; Bentancur, Matuidi; Bernardeschi, Dybala, Mandzukic; Higuain

Juventus bench: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, Barzagli, Rugani, Alex Sandro, Sturaro, Caligara, Cuadrado, Douglas Costa

Atalanta starting XI (3-4-1-2): Berisha; Masiello, Caldara, Palomino; Hateboer, Cristante, Freuler, Spinazzola; Kurtic; Gomez, Cornelius

Atalanta bench: TBA

WATCH IT

TV: RAI Italia America (United States); RAI Italia America (Canada); BT Sport 1 (United Kingdom); Sky Supercalcio HD, Sky Calcio 1, Sky Sport 1 HD Italia, PremiumSport HD (Italy)

Online/Mobile: beIN SPORTS CONNECT U.S.A., fuboTV (United States); beIN SPORTS CONNECT Canada, DAZN Canada (Canada); Premium Play, SKY Go Italia (Italy)

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven't already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.

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