Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Genoa

These two things are officially true:

1. Goodbye, international break.
2. Welcome back, Serie A.

The two-week break between Juventus games is officially over. In just a few short moments, Juve’s late-October/early-November slate of games will have officially gotten underway. In comes Genoa, the club with Serie A’s current top scorer and the folks who have the lucky distinction in saying that they are the ones who allowed Juventus to sign Stefano Sturaro a few years back.

Oh, it’s true. It’s damn true.

But what this also is besides two teams that have issued paychecks to the legendary Sturaro is also the first game in what is a massive four-week stretch for Max Allegri and his team.

We get the return of Serie A.

We get the return of the Champions League group stage.

We get a lot with the return of Juventus in a post-international break world.

While we know what is upon, we don’t know how Juve will play in their first game coming out of the two-week international break. Allegri has warned and given caution to how things sometimes are after these lengthy spells without club competition — and it’s not like everything can just go according to plan with a snap of his fingers. So, while we hope that Juve play like they did before the international break, we just don’t know for sure.

Or, Juventus will win 5-0 and this will be a whole bunch of fun.

That would be pretty nice, wouldn’t it?

I know that would be a nice way to start the weekend, but that’s just me being a biased jerk.

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy

Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 12 noon Eastern Time; 9 a.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-3-3): Szczesny; Cancelo, Bonucci, Benatia, Alex Sandro; Bentancur, Pjanic, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Mandzukic, Cristiano Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, De Sciglio, Chiellini, Dybala, Douglas Costa, Barzagli, Kean, Emre Can, Rugani, Bernardeschi

Genoa starting XI (3-5-2): Radu; Biraschi, Romero, Criscito; Pereira, Romulo, Sandro, Bessa, Lazovic; Piatek, Kouamé

HOW TO WATCH

Television: TLN (Canada); Eleven Sports 2 UK (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 1, Sky Supercalcio HD (Italy)

Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); 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.