Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Udinese

The long and winding road that has been the 2019-20 season — one that has seen plenty of things we hadn’t previously seen over the course of our lifetimes — is about to reach its crescendo. A season that has sign an actual Scudetto race, a suspension of play that last three months and then a restart with games virtually every day for two straight months is a deal that we hopefully don’t have to see for a long time to come. (At least the last two parts of the equation.)

That long road will be coming to an end soon, with a new season shortly thereafter.

The hope is, of course, that come the final few games of that season it will be the same kind of situation in which we find ourselves in right now — on the brink of another title. To get to that one, Juventus first needs to take care of business and finish this one, which can be clinched once and for all with a win over Udinese tonight at the Friuli.

No fancy formulas needed where other dominoes have to fall first.

The one thing that Juventus needed to have happen to be provided with the chance to clinch the title against Udinese — Inter Milan dropping points Wednesday night at the San Siro in their game against Fiorentina — actually did happen. Juventus got the help from Fiorentina, and now all they have to do is take care of business against one fo the worst teams in the league these days.

Do style points really matter tonight?

No, probably not. But it would be nice for Juventus, a team that hasn’t exactly crushed lower-table sides all that much this season, to wrap the Scudetto up with a little bit of a cherry on top rather than what we’ve seen in previous occasions.

Maybe, just for one day, we can watch Juve play well and do a little celebrating at the same time. That sounds like a pretty good thing to do knowing that these are the final three points that Juventus need to make it nine straight Serie A titles.

MATCH INFO

When: Thursday, July 23, 2020

Where: Stadio Friuli, Udine, Italy

Official kickoff time: 7:30 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 6:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time; 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-3-3): Szczesny; Danilo, de Ligt, Rugani, Alex Sandro; Ramsey, Bentancur, Rabiot; Bernardeschi, Dybala, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Buffon, Pinsoglio, Cuadrado, Coccolo, Demiral, Pjanic, Matuidi, Muratore, Douglas Costa, Olivieri, Vrioni, Zanimacchia

Udinese starting XI (3-5-2): Musso; Becao, Nuytinck, Ekong; Ter Avest, Fofana, De Paul, Sema, Zeegelar; Okaka, Nestorovski

HOW TO WATCH

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

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