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Juventus are 90 minutes away from the Coppa Italia final. They hold a 2-1 lead over arch-rival Inter Milan, and tonight they have the luxury of playing at home with those two vital away goals in their back pocket.
Sounds good, right?
We’ll see after those 90 minutes. (And hopefully it only goes 90 minutes.)
Juventus and Inter Milan will meet tonight for the third time in the last month. The first time didn’t go well at all. The second time a little better, with the aforementioned 2-1 coming in fashion where Juve did quite a decent amount of hanging onto their lead than we would have liked. Now, the third match between the two clubs in less than a month and the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals, sees Juventus trying to dispatch of Inter once more.
No, Juve don’t necessarily need a win to advance to the Coppa Italia final.
A draw will do just fine.
Hell, so will a 1-0 loss.
But the likelihood of the aggregate scoreline remaining at 2-1 after 90 minutes doesn’t seem all that great. Juventus will need goals just as Inter needs goals. Obviously not to the same extent, but Juve getting a goal or two will drastically change the look of this tie just as Inter is trying to flip the aggregate scoreline in their favor.
You look at the circumstances surrounding this game and there almost certainly promises to be some kind of fireworks going on. And no, I’m not talking about the same kind of fireworks that we’ve heard outside San Siro the last couple of times Juventus has played in Milan. Inter has come to Turin in need of goals. If they can actually get them will determine just how many more minutes Juventus will play in the Coppa Italia beyond tonight.
0/6 - In the last 6 matches at Allianz Stadium #Inter haven't scored any goal, (conceding 9) - their last goal on the road against #Juventus was back in January 2015 (Icardi in Serie A). Climb.#JuveInter #CoppaItalia pic.twitter.com/90x4D0cgTF
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 9, 2021
MATCH INFO
When: Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021
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 LINEUP
Juventus starting XI (3-5-2/4-4-2): Buffon; Danilo, Demiral, de Ligt, Alex Sandro; Cuadrado, Bentancur, Rabiot, Bernardeschi; Ronaldo, Kulusevski
Juventus bench: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, Chiellini, Morata, McKennie, Bonucci, Chiesa, Di Pardo, Dragusin, Frabotta, Peeters
Inter Milan starting XI (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, de Vrij, Bastoni; Hakimi, Barella, Brozovic, Eriksen, Darmian; Lukaku, Lautaro
Inter Milan bench: Padelli, Radu, Gagliardini, Vecino, Kolarov, Sensi, Ranocchia, Perisic, Young, D’Ambrosio, Pinamonti
HOW TO WATCH
Television: RAI Italia North America (United States); RAI Italia North America (Canada); BT Sport 2 (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.