Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. AC Milan

11111111When Milan saw the schedule and noticed when they were playing Juventus, there were probably some thoughts around Milanello that the reigning Serie A champions’ visit to the San Siro on Oct. 28 would be an early-season chance to prove their Scudetto credentials. Not that I know that as fact, no inside sources have confirmed said notion to me, but you have to think that Milan had their eyes on being better than sitting in eighth place through their first 10 league games this season.

Milan won their last game.

Same goes for Juventus.

In a perfect world, Juve would be playing well right now heading into back-to-back big games with plenty of hype and talk behind them. They would be scoring goals galore, playing defense as well as they have for the better part of the last six seasons and sitting atop the Serie A table as they look every bit of the part of another Scudetto defender.

They may be scoring a lot of goals — 10 in their last two games kind of a lot — but a good portion of Juventus’ game is still lacking as we get ready to hit the month of November and another big Champions League game with three vital points on the line. Tonight’s game against Milan can get Juventus to the top of the Serie A table at very least while another win over Sporting a few days from now will mean Juve’s Champions League campaign will go beyond just the ground stage.

Can it all click against Milan?

Surely they’ll need to do better than they did the last time they were at the San Siro to have that happen.

Juventus is in the five-team pack all battling for positioning atop the Serie A table. Juventus can, at least for a short amount of time this weekend, move into a tie for first place before Napoli play on Sunday afternoon.

To see Juve play well and extend Milan’s early-season misery as their new captain sits in the stands watching along because he’s suspended, that sounds like a nice little way to spend a Saturday evening at the San Siro. There may be 60,000 or 70,000 Milan supporters sitting at the Giuseppe Meazza who disagree, but that’s okay.

It’s not like they were ever going to agree with us anyway.

MATCH INFO

Location: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan, Italy

Kick-off time: 6 p.m. local time in Italy; 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 12 p.m. on the East Coast; 9 a.m. on the West Coast

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Chiellini, Rugani, Asamoah; Khedira, Pjanic; Cuadrado, Dybala, Mandzukic; Higuain

Juventus bench: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, De Sciglio, Alex Sandro, Barzagli, Matuidi, Marchisio, Bentancur, Bernardeschi, Douglas Costa

AC Milan starting XI: G. Donnarumma; Zapata, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Abate, Kessie, Biglia, Borini; Suso, Calhanoglu; Kalinic

AC Milan bench: A. Donnarumma, Storari, Paletta, Musacchio, Gomez, Montolivo, Locatelli, Mauri, Cutrone, Andre Silva

WATCH IT

TV: beIN SPORTS USA, Rai Italia America (United States) beIN Sports Canada, Rai Italia America (Canada); BT Sport 3 (United Kingdom); Sky Sport 1 HD Italia, Sky Supercalcio HD, PremiumSport HD, Sky Calcio 1 (Italy)

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

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