Juventus to return to United States for this summer’s MLS All-Star Game

Juventus are heading to Atalanta Atlanta in August.

Italy’s current six-time defending champions — and we hope that it’s “seven-time” come the summer months — announced on Thursday that they will spend a second consecutive preseason in the United States. This time around, Juventus’ preseason schedule will include a date with the Major League Soccer All-Star team in the annual MLS All-Star Game, which will be hosted at the brand-spankin’-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

What other legs there is to this next American trip still remains to be announced, but we at least know that Juve are stepping onto U.S. soil for one game. And you’d like to think that a couple of other friendlies — and quite possibly involvement in the International Champions Cup again — are on the docket, too.

Now you can officially say that you’ve seen Ric Flair has both tweeted and said something about Juventus. Consider that something I didn’t totally expect to see happen.

Here is what Juventus President Andrea Agnelli had to say about his team’s involvement in the 23rd edition of the MLS All-Star Game:

“We are happy to represent European football in this year’s MLS All-Star Game. It’s an opportunity to get closer to the passionate American soccer fans. For many years, Juventus has considered the United States and Canada as a crucial market for growing our presence as shown by the opening of our new academies and our digital strategy that has greatly expanded the possibility to connect with fans on this continent. The first team and the game, however, will be the main show that Juventus offers and we are proud to be in Atlanta.”

This will be one of our first chances to see what next season’s Juventus squad looks like during what is going to be a very, very important summer for a variety of reasons. And this will also be the chance to say hello to our old buddy Sebastian Giovinco, who has been lighting up MLS ever since he came over from Italy in 2015.

But hey, most notably, this will give us a chance to freak out over another Juventus friendly when they don’t play all that well and (probably) don’t get all that great of an end result.

So, welcome to Atlanta ... soon. Not Atalanta. It’s Atlanta.