Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Salernitana

There is all of 90 minutes to go before Juventus heads into another international break and we turn our attention toward Italy’s World Cup play-off matches and if the likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci will get one last chance to play on the biggest stage in the game.

But before we turn our collective attention toward a team wearing the famed azzurri kit, there’s business to take care of for those in the just as famous bianconeri stripes.

It’s been a tough week for Max Allegri and his squad, and the last thing this team needs is for any kind of silly business to happen against the worst team in the league. In facing Salernitana tonight, Juventus has the chance to get three more valuable points against a team that, while improved over the last month or two, is still very much far from a team that looks like it’s going to get out of the relegation zone any time soon. That means for Juventus, this is an opportunity that cannot be missed because we all know who’s going to be waiting there for Allegri’s squad the next time they take the field on the other side of the international break.

(Hint: It’s the team that won the title last season and just drew with Fiorentina earlier this weekend.)

Knowing full well that a showdown with Inter — and have the chance to overtake those you-know-whats for third place — is what lies ahead after the international break, Juventus can’t afford any kind of slip up. That’s the simple part of the equation. Anybody who sees the league table can see that — and that’s even without putting into consideration where Salernitana currently is.

Maybe Juventus will play with some sort of anger because of what happened Wednesday night in the Champions League. Or maybe they’ll just slog through what happened because of how emotionally fried they are because of what happened Wednesday night in the Champions League. We just don’t know because this team is so unpredictable.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, March 20, 2022.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 3 p.m. local time in Italy and around Europe, 12 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 10 a.m. Eastern time, 7 a.m. Pacific time.

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (4-4-2): Szczesny; De Sciglio, de Ligt, Chiellini, Pellegrini; Cuadrado, Danilo, Arthur, Rabiot; Dybala, Vlahovic,

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Rugani, Bernardeschi, Miretti, Morata, Kean, Soulé.

Salernitana starting XI (4-3-2-1): Sepe; Mazzocchi, Gyomber, Fazio, Ruggeri; Radovanovic, L Coulibaly, Zortea; Bonazzoli, Perotti; Djuric

HOW TO WATCH

Television: TLN (Canada); BT Sport 2 (United Kingdom).

Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); BTSport.com, BT Sport app (United Kingdom); DAZN (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.