Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. AC Milan

Four Serie A games to go. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. Twelve points are at stake, and that’s all Juventus has to play for outside of a trophy next week in the Coppa Italia final against Atalanta. These games are all important, but not because Juve’s fighting for to win a domestic double like we all hoped they would be all the way back in August and September when we were in the first few weeks of the Andrea Pirlo managerial era.

Juventus is fighting for its Champions League lives. Not to stay in the tournament and advance to the next round. Instead, it’s to qualify for next season’s competition even though there’s bound to be some sort of discipline come down from UEFA from the entire Super League fiasco that Juve continues to stand firm over even though there’s only 25 percent of the original field still in the breakaway league.

Tonight, the two teams that are tied for third place and desperately trying not to fall into fourth place and risk even the slightest bit of late-season tightrope walking while trying not to fall out of the top four. It’s third-place Juventus against third-place AC Milan, with both teams trying to keep their place in one of Italy’s Champions League spots as the total chaos behind league champion Inter Milan looks set to continue all the way through the final matchday of the 2020-21 season.

We will see if Juventus can avoid what has happened the last couple of games and actually start out playing well rather than putting together a completely forgettable opening 45 minutes.

We will see if Juventus, which is as healthy as they’ve been all season, can rise to the occasion and beat a team that has the exact same objectives that they do entering the season’s final four fixtures.

And we will see if Andrea Pirlo, a man known to be under fire if you believe some of the things that has been put out there by the Italian press, can put together a plan that is capable of getting the better of a Milan squad that is not playing all that well at the moment.

This is Juve’s chance to put a little bit of distance between themselves and Milan. What they do with it remains to be seen.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, May 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 (4-4-2/3-5-2): Szczesny; Cuadrado, de Ligt, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; McKennie, Bentancur, Rabiot, Chiesa; Morata, Ronaldo

Juventus bench: Buffon, Pinsoglio; Bonucci, Danilo, Demiral; Arthur, Bernardeschi, Kulusevski, Ramsey; Dybala

AC Milan starting XI (4-2-3-1): G. Donnarumma; Calabria, Kjaer, Tomori, Theo Hernandez; Kessie, Bennacer; Saelemaekers, Brahim Diaz, Calhanoglu; Ibrahimovic

AC Milan bench: Tatarusanu, Dalot, Gabbia, Kalulu, Romagnoli; Hauge, Krunic, Meite, Tonali; Leao, Mandzukic, Rebic

HOW TO WATCH

Television: TLN (Canada); Premier Sports 1 (United Kingdom); Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Serie A, Sky Sport 251 (Italy)

Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); Premier Player HD (United Kingdom); Sky Go Italia, NOW TV (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.