Game Time Thread: Juventus A vs. Juventus B

James Horncastle, noted Italian and European football writer extraordinaire, took to Twitter just before noon in Italy today and posted a picture showing a traffic jam that could be blamed on a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

(Seeing as James is stuck in said traffic jam, there’s no worries about him putting himself in danger with texting and driving. It’s a little easier to post a picture to Twitter when your car is sitting still for long periods of time.)

Please note the time of the tweet and then the time of kickoff of Juventus’ annual Juve A vs. Juve B game between the senior team and the primavera at Villar Perosa. It’s a freakin’ zoo and at the time of this writing it’s not even the usual time when lunchtime games take place on Sunday afternoons in Serie A.

Yes, all of the fuss is because this is the first chance to see Ronaldo play in a Juventus jersey outside of wild FIFA 19 commercials and all that jazz. He is the big ticket item in what is usually the final celebration before the absolute grind of the Serie A season gets going the next weekend.

We are officially less than a week from Ronaldo and Juventus opening their season in Verona against Chievo. That game will have its own hype because it will be CR7’s official debut with the seven-time defending Italian champions.

This is tradition, ladies and gents.

This is what legends of Juventus’ past have done each and every season before the games actually count in the standings.

This season’s Juventus squad is about to spend a few hours in the land where the Agnellis have built quite the estate and go absolutely nuts when the players old and new take the field. There will be plenty of eyes on Ronaldo, if not all of them. And there will be plenty of eyes on just about every Juventus player because this is more of a party rather than a game that has any kind of substance to it.

Let’s just hope that they make it more than 50 minutes before the fans rush the field like we saw take place last season...

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018

Where: Agnelli estate at Villar Perosa, Italy

Official kickoff time: 5 p.m. local time in Villar Perosa, a small town 40 kilometers southwest of Turin; 4 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 111 a.m. on the East Coast; 8 a.m. on the West Coast

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Sky Sport Serie A (Italy)

Online/mobile: 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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