Coppa Italia Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Inter Milan

Over the last four games, Juventus has looked rather solid and encouraging. It’s been a rebound that maybe you didn’t think was possible considering what happened in the game before the last four games. But they’ve done it, and they’ve done so just when we thought that one of the season’s big targets was done for.

Now, here comes the opponent that resulted in the recent rebound again.

It’s Derby d’Italia day again.

Juventus has made the trip over to the San Siro for the second time in the last 2 ¹⁄₂ weeks and third time since the start of the new year. So far, they’re 1 for 2, with this rubber match being the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals which just so happens to come at a time where Andrea Pirlo’s squad will look to avenge what happened in the middle of January against Inter Milan and Antonio Conte.

It was that game, arguably Juventus’ worst performance of the 2020-21 season, where Conte schooled Pirlo and Inter absolutely dominated just about every aspect of the proceedings over the course of those very frustrating 90 minutes. And it was also that game, a 2-0 loss to Inter on Jan. 17, where Juventus last allowed a goal. Since then, Juve’s form has been quite refreshing, with the defense stabilizing and the midfield playing about as well as they have all season.

Now comes the test to see if the progress since that Inter loss is for real. And it just so happens that the test also comes against Inter, which will be without both Romelu Lukaku and Archaf Hakimi for this first leg due to yellow cards they picked up against AC Milan in the quarterfinals.

Let us hope that this Derby d’Italia goes a whole lot better than the last one — both in terms of the result and how Pirlo’s Juventus plays. Nobody wants to see what happened 2 ¹⁄₂ weeks ago be repeated. Well, nobody around here, at least.

MATCH INFO

When: Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021

Where: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan, 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 (4-4-2/3-5-2): Buffon; Cuadrado, Demiral, de Ligt, Alex Sandro; McKennie, Bentancur, Rabiot, Bernardeschi; Kulusevski, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, Chiellini, Danilo, Bonucci, Dragusin, Frabotta, Arthur, Chiesa, Fagioli, Peeters, Morata

Inter Milan starting XI (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Brozovic, Vidal, Young; Lautaro Martinez, Alexis Sanchez

HOW TO WATCH

Television: RAI Italia North America (United States); RAI Italia North America (Canada); BT Sport ESPN (United Kingdom); RAI Uno(Italy)

Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); BTSport.com, BT Sport app (United Kingdom); RAI Play (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.