Coppa Italia Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Atalanta

On this day, we will hope that Juventus wins a trophy.

It is not necessarily the main trophy we were hoping they won this season, but as we know the 2020-21 season is one where things just don’t go the way we want them to. (Because, really, Inter winning a title? Come on, they’re known frauds.)

Tonight at the Mapei Stadium, Juventus will try to win their first Coppa Italia trophy in three seasons against arguably the most in-form team Serie A currently has to offer in Atalanta. They’re the same Atalanta squad that recorded a last-minute win over Juve last month, and the team that is sitting a couple of points ahead of the former nine-time defending Italian champions in the league table. And while the league table doesn’t matter all that much in this game, the fact that Juve’s the underdog is pretty much reflective in where each of them sit entering the final weekend of the 2020-21 season.

So now we see if the lesser of teams form-wise can pull something off and slow down the runaway train that is currently known as Atalanta.

Juventus, despite winning their last two games, are still leaving a whole lot to be desired when it comes to how they’re playing. Even with a win over resident frauds new champions over the weekend, this is far from a team that is inspiring a whole lot of confidence as they get set to line up against such a quality opponent in Atalanta.

Maybe the magic of this potentially being Gigi Buffon’s last game as a Juventus player will spur this team to victory and Atalanta’s count of Coppa Italia won will remain on zero.

Or maybe this time will simply play up to its potential despite the fact it hasn’t even close to reaching anywhere close to that in months.

Either way, Juventus will have to put together quite a qulity effort if they want to beat Atalanta and claim another Coppa Italia trophy. If that happens, then maybe just maybe they can take some good vibes into the weekend (even though they need help from at least one or two teams).

MATCH INFO

When: Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Where: Mapei Stadium, Sassuolo, Italy

Official kickoff time: 9 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 8 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 3 p.m. Eastern Time; 12 p.m. Pacific Time

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI: Buffon; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Chiellini, Danilo; McKennie, Bentancur, Rabiot, Chiesa; Kulusevski, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Szczesny, Pinsoglio, Arthur, Ramsey, Morata, Dybala, Bonucci, Demiral, Bernardeschi, Frabotta

Atalanta starting XI: Gollini; Toloi, Romero, Palomino; Hateboer, De Roon, Freuler, Gosens; Pessina; Malinovskyi, Duvan Zapata

Atalanta bench: Rossi, Sportiello, Maehle, Sutalo, Lammers, Muriel, Caldara, Djimsiti, Ruggeri, Miranchuk, Ilicic, Pasalic

HOW TO WATCH

Television: ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, RAI Italia North America (United States); RAI Italia North America (Canada); BT Sport 2 (United Kingdom); RAI Uno (Italy)

Online/mobile: ESPN+, WatchESPN (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.