Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Cagliari

It’s been about four months since Juventus last saw Cagliari. It was all of a couple of days after Juve clinched their ninth straight Scudetto, and the outcome was a 2-0 Cagliari win in a game that meant about next to nothing for Juventus unless you were holding out hope things might get better before they faced Lyon in the Champions League Round of 16 a couple of weeks later.

That immediate gratification never arrived, and we all know what happened a few weeks later.

This time around, we’re hoping things go a little bit more ... successfully. Not just in this game, but in the very important European and domestic fixtures that will follow over the next four weeks.

Cagliari has made its way to Turin as they face the Italian champions, who are looking to resemble a team worthy of winning another Scudetto once again. Juventus has had an up and down start to the Andrea Pirlo era as the club’s manager, but it is this beginning to a 10-match run over the course of the next month where we are going to find out a whole hell of a lot about what this team is all about.

It begins tonight.

And then there will be another game three days later.

And then another. And another. And another.

This is going to be a run of games that will remind all of us about what took place over the summer. There will be so many games over a short period of time where the squad’s depth will be tested, but there will also be so much happening where it will almost feel like we’re just going from one match to the next without much time to breathe in between. There are seven Serie A fixtures between now until the short holiday break, and that’s a massive chance for Pirlo’s squad to collect a whole lot of points in a short period of time. And the fact that the league table is currently pretty compact — especially at the top — means that if Juventus is to rip off a nice little run against a relatively friendly schedule heading into the new year could mean they’re sitting in a much, much better place than they currently are.

Essentially, we’re not used seeing Juve in sixth place. But than can change in a hurry.

And it begins tonight.

Let us hope that tonight also has three points come with it a couple hours from now.

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy

Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 2;45 p.m. Eastern Time; 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-4-2/3-4-1-2): Buffon; Cuadrado, Demiral, de Ligt, Danilo; Kulusevski, Arthur, Rabiot, Bernardeschi; Morata, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, Alex Sandro, Di Pardo, Frabotta, McKennie, Chiesa, Bentancur, Portanova, Dybala, Vrioni

Cagliari starting XI (4-2-3-1): Cragno; Pisacane, Klavan, Walukiewicz, Tripaldelli; Marin, Rog; Zappa, Joao Pedro, Ounas; Simeone

HOW TO WATCH

Television: RAI Italia North America (United States); RAI Italia North America, TLN (Canada); Premier Sports 1 (United Kingdom)

Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); Premier Player HD (United Kingdom); DAZN, DAZN1 (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.