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This feels like one of those situations that can relate to “If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there, did it really fall?” kinds of questions.
If Juventus and Inter Milan play one another in a friendly, is it REALLY a friendly? I mean, let’s be honest here: These teams despise each other as much as you possibly can — and that’s even with a very familiar face and his wonderful hair plugs now on the Inter sidelines screaming instructions and already complaining about transfer happenings.
Juventus and Inter face one another in a matter of minutes at the Olympic Sports Centre in Nanjing, China, the second leg of Juve’s preseason tour and participation in the International Champions Cup. It will be the first time that Antonio Conte has managed against his former club since leaving Juventus in abrupt fashion a little over five years ago.
But it’s a friendly.
Or it’s a ... “friendly”?!
No matter what you want to actually characterize this first meeting of the season with Inter even before the 2019-20 season actually begins, it’s the second in-game chance for us to see what kind of progress — be it a lot, a little or just a smiggin — Maurizio Sarri’s squad is making under their brand new manager. As we said before the Tottenham friendly, it’s always going to be a little interesting based on the fact that some players Sarri likely wants to have as big-time players aren’t currently in the same time zone and/or country at the moment.
But, there’s still enough of what will likely be the starting lineup on opening weekend against a team that’s still to be announced — seriously, get on that Serie A — to get a good glimpse of what Sarri is trying to build both in the next month and going forward.
No matter what, though, it will be a little odd to see Conte in Inter colors while managing against Juventus. It just doesn’t seem to work with the image I have in my head of him screaming at Mirko Vucinic and/or Milos Krasic during the 24th minute against Cesena.
MATCH INFO
When: Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Where: Olympic Sports Centre, Nanjing, China
Official kickoff time: 7:30 p.m. local time in Shanghai; 1:30 p.m. in Italy and across Europe; 12:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time; 4:30 a.m. Pacific Time
STARTING LINEUPS
Juventus starting XI (4-3-3): Szczesny; Cancelo, de Ligt, Bonucci, De Sciglio; Rabiot, Pjanic, Matuidi; Bernardeschi, Higuain, Ronaldo
Inter Milan starting XI (3-5-2): Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, De Vrij, Skriniar; Candreva, Gagliardini, Brozovic, Sensi, Dalbert; Perisic, Esposito
HOW TO WATCH
Television: Premier Sports 1 (United Kingdom); SportItalia (Italy)
Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); Premier Player HD (United Kingdom)
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.