Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Cagliari

There are seven games remaining in the 2021-22 Serie A season. That means, with a little bit of quick math done in my head, there’s also 21 points out there for the taking in those seven remaining league fixtures. With those remaining fixtures, Juventus will be the favorite to win just about every of them no matter how complicated they may be.

On paper, tonight’s matchup against Cagliari isn’t all that complicated. Juventus sits in fourth place, and five points ahead of its closest competition in Roma on top of that. Cagliari, like Juve, is coming off a loss, but said loss was a 5-1 dismantling at the hands of Udinese that only extended a run of tough form that has seen the Rossoblu drop down to the very edge of being in the relegation zone. You have a few results go against them both their own and those immediately behind them in the standings and it’s suddenly becoming a race not to get sent down to Serie B at season’s end.

For Juventus, the goal for the end of season is clear as day following last Sunday night’s loss to Inter: don’t screw up the current fourth-place standing (and also try and get to the Coppa Italia final in a couple of weeks).

It’s not all that difficult, right?

OK, maybe it’s going to be at least a little difficult because this is Juventus in the year of our Lord 2022 and things are never actually easy by any means.

Still, Juventus’ need to get back on the horse and get back to winning is as obvious as it is that the attack needs to start scoring more goals. If it’s a grinder — fine. If it’s an early goal and sit back special — fine. No matter what, Juventus can’t afford to drop any more points knowing full well that Roma is suddenly charging up the table after months of not playing all that great.

We thought a month or two it would be Atalanta we had to worry the most about. Now, it’s actually Roma. The situation remains the same, though: Juve needs to win, keep ahold of fourth place and not let a struggling Cagliari side be the latest relegation battler to give Max Allegri’s side issues.

Let’s just hope that this weekend doesn’t resemble last weekend. That would be nice.

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, April 9, 2022.

Where: Sardegna Arena, Cagliari, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and around 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 (4-4-2): Szczesny; Danilo, De Ligt, Chiellini, Pellegrini; Cuadrado, Zakaria, Arthur, Rabiot; Dybala, Vlahovic.

Juventus bench: Perin, Pinsoglio, Sandro, Bonucci, Rugani, Bernardeschi, Miretti, Kean.

Cagliari starting XI (3-5-2): Cragno; Altare, Lovato, Carboni; Bellanova, Marin, Deiola, Dalbert, Lykogiannis; Pavoletti, Pedro.

Cagliari bench: Aresti, Radunovic, Zappa, Walukeiwicz, Baselli, Rog, Pereiro, Obert, Balde, Ceter.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: BT Sport 1 (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.