Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Roma

In previous years, any number of Juventus’ trips to the Italian capital has come with a decent amount of pressure accompanying them. There’s been Coppa Italia finals, there’s been top-of-the-table clashes be it against Roma or Lazio. There’s been lots of games that, despite Juve’s dominance over Serie A for the last eight years, have pushed the bianconeri to the edge and results far from easy to come by.

Basically, the trip to Rome has never been a certainty and, because of that, these games have been important ones regardless of when on the schedule they are.

Sure, Roma still has a chance at a Champions League spot. But, now more than ever before this season, they’re going to need some serious help from their friends if they are to go from sixth place to fourth in the next three weeks. Plus, the whole “beat Juventus and hope that the ever-impressive Atalanta train slows down” thing needs to happen, too. There is very much the kind of sense that last weekend’s draw against Genoa was the game that prevented Roma from

Still, there’s this game. Juventus-Roma with a cloud hanging over both squads.

Some of it because of what has happened on the field the last month or two. The other part, which is the one that the Italian press wants to serve to us on a silver platter with a giant glass of Pinot Grigio or two to top it all off, is the managerial situation revolving around both clubs as they enter the final three weeks of the season.

You think they might talk about this during the game?

You bet.

So there is obviously more to it than just two teams playing against one another for 90 or so minutes. There’s the storylines that have nothing to do with the product that will be put out on the field. And there’s definitely going to be storylines about respective players in each team’s starting lineup because of what the transfer rumor mill is these days.

But there’s also the same thing we’ve been saying the last couple of weeks when it comes to Juventus and their next opponent: The team in black and white doesn’t have much to play for at all, while the team they’re facing has plenty riding on the weekend’s fixture.

So I guess all we can hope for is something a little better than the last couple of weeks. And, based on his pre-match press conference on Saturday, Max Allegri is in that line, too.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, April 12, 2019

Where: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy

Official kickoff time: 8:30 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 7:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time; 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-3-3): Szczesny; De Sciglio, Caceres, Chiellini, Spinazzola; Emre Can, Pjanic, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Dybala, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Del Favero, Barzagli, Alex Sandro, Cancelo, Bentancur, Pereira da Silva, Kastanos, Nicolussi Caviglia

Roma starting XI (4-3-3): Mirante; Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov; Zaniolo, Nzonzi, Lo Pellegrini; Kluivert, Dzeko, El Shaarawy

HOW TO WATCH

Television: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, RAI Italia America (United States); TLN, RAI Italia America (Canada); Premier Sports 1 (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 1, Sky Sport Serie A, Sky Supercalcio HD, Sky Sport Uno, Roma TV (Italy)

Online/mobile: WatchESPN, ESPN Deportes+ (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.