Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Spezia

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Boy, there sure is no rest for the weary!

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Boy, Juventus sure are weary. And injured. And weary because so many players are injured and their return dates are somewhat unknown at this point.

But, as they say on the stage, the show must go on. So, even with Andrea Pirlo’s squad full of players who are not regularly part of the Juventus senior team, they take the field tonight against a Spezia side that has been one of Serie A’s feel-good stories and has already beaten one of Italy’s top teams all of a few weeks ago. Juventus, on the other hand, comes in on the back of another disappointing result, which has essentially put the club’s chances of winning a 10th straight league title on life support.

If Juventus didn’t need to essentially win out the rest of the 2020-21 season to overcome the hole they’ve dug themselves in Serie A before, they most certainly do now. Even then, the feeling amongst many is that it’s becoming too late for Juventus players and coaches alike to overturn the deficit they are currently looking at.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

Pirlo’s starting lineup will likely look a lot like what we saw against Hellas Verona over the weekend because there’s simply no real chance to shake things up unless he suddenly decides to completely zig when everybody is expecting him to zag due to who is (or isn’t) available.

Maybe Juventus will be able to do what they did last time they faced Spezia after a disappointing draw against Hellas Verona this season. A relatively comfortable win compared to what happened all of about 72 hours ago would be a welcome change for the better.

But as we know with this Juventus team, the simple is never all that easy. So, we’ll see what latest turn this season has in store for us. Hopefully, it’s a fairly good one. (Please let it be a good one.)

MATCH INFO

When: Tuesday, March 2, 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 LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-2/4-4-2): Szczesny; Danilo, Demiral, de Ligt, Alex Sandro, Frabotta; Chiesa, Bentancur, Rabiot, McKennie; Kulusevski, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Buffon, Pinsoglio, Di Pardo, Dragusin, Ramsey, Bernardeschi, Fagioli, Ake, Peeters, Morata

Spezia starting XI (4-3-3): Provedel; Vignali, Erlic, Terzi, Marchizza; Estevez, Sena, Maggiore; Farias, Nzola, Gyasi

HOW TO WATCH

Television: RAI Italia North America (United States); RAI Italia North America, TLN (Canada); Premier Sports 1 (United Kingdom); Sky Sport 251, Sky Sport 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.