Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Atlético Madrid

Exactly two weeks from today, Juventus will be kicking off its 2019-20 season at the Stadio Tardini in Parma. It will be the official opening act of the Maurizio Sarri era at Juve, one that will hopefully be not only as successful as his predecessor but also a little more entertaining and easy on the eyes.

That is a big reason why Sarri is now in Turin rather than a sixth go-around with Max Allegri.

For now, however, we’re still in the preparation stages. Sure, it’s not the early, early preparation stages like we could say the last time Juventus took part in an International Champions Cup friendly a few weeks back in Singapore or Seoul, South Korea. Those were the first weeks of the Sarri experience, with so much learning of the brand new system to be done. We’ve reached the final friendly, still technically part of the ICC, this evening, as Juventus and Atlético Madrid have made the trip to Stockholm, Sweden, for one last tune-up before the Serie A opener on Saturday, Aug. 24, against Parma.

You know, the same Atlético Madrid team we saw last March when the Champions League knockout rounds were giving us happy thoughts rather than extreme rage that took place a few weeks later. Those were good times. Or, at least the second leg at Allianz Stadium was.

Ah, that seems so long ago. So much is different from that game — not just the man who will be yelling instructions to Juventus players during the course of the next couple of hours. There are new Juventus players who have arrived this summer. There have been players who played in that game who have not only left Juventus, but left the country of Italy as a whole. (Still miss you, Moise.) Atlético Madrid have seen big names leave and big names arrive, with plenty of money both coming in and then going back out.

Basically, things have changed.

Some things are the same. Diego Simeone is still the same. Atlético Madrid’s style of play is probably going to be the same. Diego Costa being a complete a-hole is still the same.

See? There’s a lot of the same things.

But, for the immediate future, we’re going to see whether Juventus’ new look can actually look good against a club that they could very well see a few months from now once again in the Champions League.

That would be cool — especially with the business getting serious in a couple of weeks.

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019

Where: Friends Arena, Stockholm, Sweden

Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. local time in Stockholm and across Europe; 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom; High Noon Eastern Time; 9 a.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Premium Sport 1 (United Kingdom); SportItalia (Italy)

Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); Premium Player 1 (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.