Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. AC Milan

In previous seasons, mostly because of the red-and-black side of things, meetings between Juventus and AC Milan haven’t exactly been massive headline-grabbing matchups that they were when both clubs were battling it out for the Scudetto. Juve’s stranglehold on Serie A is pretty much as firm as its ever been during this current eight-year run, with the simple fact that they can possibly clinch the Scudetto as early as this weekend a clear sign of that.

Milan, well, it’s a little different.

That’s why, combined with the current 18-point lead — SERIOUSLY, 18 POINTS — that Juventus has over Napoli, Milan’s visit to Turin on Saturday night feels more like just another regular round of Serie A football rather than the Big Match™ kind of billing a meeting between the two clubs in the latter stages of a season might have previously has. Instead, rather than so much hype around Juventus playing Milan, a lot of the talk has been surrounded around the game the seven-time defending Italian champions just played and the one they will play after this one.

This is the game before Juventus’ next trip into the lands of the Champions League, a quick venture over to Amsterdam for the first leg of the quarterfinals against Ajax.

And it’s not like Milan supporters are currently buzzin’ about how their favorite team is playing right now anyway ...

OK, then!

That tweet not edited as some kind of late April Fools’ Day joke. That has been embeded from the good old internet, where our friends at SB Nation’s Milan blog have been rather frank about the current state of the club. And it’s pretty understandable as to why the ACMO hierarchy are a little grumpy these days. When you look at Milan’s form guide the last three games after going unbeaten for just about two months following their loss to Juventus in the Supercoppa, it makes total sense.

• 3-2 loss to Inter Milan
• 1-0 loss to Sampdoria
• 1-1 draw with Udinese

Milan’s grasp on fourth place and Serie A’s final Champions League spot has gone from looking rather firm to completely wobbly in the span of a couple of weeks. On the other hand, Juventus’ position at the top hasn’t changed at all even though they’ve been dealing with both a ton of injuries and thrown in a couple of not-so-great team performances in there after the comeback win over Atlético Madrid on March 12.

The seat that was hot, then not-so-hot, then maybe a little warm is now very much hot when it comes to Rino Gattuso’s job status. (It’s not looking all that great!)

Another loss, especially to one of your biggest rivals, ain’t going to help that.

And, on top of that, it would mean Juventus is one step closer to clinch Scudetto No. 37.

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, April 6, 2019

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 p.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-2): Szczesny; De Sciglio, Bonucci, Rugani; Spinazzola, Bernardeschi, Emre Can, Bentancur, Alex Sandro; Dybala, Mandzukic

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Chiellini, Khedira, Cancelo, Matuidi, Pjanic, Kean, Del Favero, Matuidi, Nicolussi Caviglia

AC Milan starting XI (4-3-3): Reina; Calabria, Musacchio, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Kessie, Bakayoko, Calhanoglu; Suso, Piatek, Borini

AC Milan bench: A. Donnarumma, Soncin, Abate, Caldara, Laxalt, Strinic, Zapata, Bertolacci, Biglia, Mauri, Castillejo, Cutrone

HOW TO WATCH

Television: TLN (Canada); Sky Sport Serie A, Sky Calcio 1, Sky Sport Uno, Sky Supercalcio HD (Italy)

Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); Premier Sports 1 (United Kingdom); 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.