Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Sassuolo

As is tradition, when Ferragosto arrives, those around Italy celebrate the national holiday with plenty of rest and likely a good meal or two to go along with it.

It will not be a lazy kind of day for Juventus players, management or us fans.

Tonight, the final game of Serie A’s first round of fixtures is upon us. And Juventus, coming off a second straight fourth-place finish, is out to try and not repeat history of what took place 12 months ago right out of the gate. On this Ferragosto night, Juventus will host a Sassuolo side that just a few days ago was bounced out of the first round of the Coppa Italia against Serie B side Modena. So not only is Juventus getting an opening night opponent that is taking its first step in trying to replace one of its best players AND coming off a really down note to begin the 2022-23 season before it technically started.

Even with Paul Pogba sidelined for the next month, this season opener is supposed to be the start of a new beginning of sorts for Juventus. They’ve bid farewell to some damn good players and brought in some players who will hopefully translate into a better brand of football on top of some more wins and points.

But, as we know from last season, it doesn’t matter who you’ve got on your roster if you continue to drop points against teams you shouldn’t drop points against.

Can they prevent a repeat of what happened last year in the season opener against Udinese?

That’s the million dollar question heading into tonight’s opener.

At the very least, Juventus will have a sold-out crowd at Allianz Stadium to try and feed off of on this night. And if they can do that, then maybe they can get all three points against what seems like a pretty wobbly opponent that is not exactly entering the new season on a whole lot of positive momentum.

Then again, some might say the same about Juventus after the last couple of friendlies to wrap up the preseason.

But the hope is now that Juve can put the poor end to the preseason slate behind them and start the new campaign on a positive note. Plus, having a reason to celebrate on Ferragosto is never a bad thing, right?

MATCH INFO

When: Monday, Aug. 15, 2022.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, 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): Perin; Danilo, Bonucci, Bremer, Alex Sandro; Cuadrado, Zakaria, Locatelli, McKennie; Di Maria, Vlahovic.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Garofani, De Sciglio, Gatti, Rugani, Rovella, Kostić, Miretti, Fagioli, Soulé, Da Graca.

Sassuolo starting XI (4-3-3): Consigli; Muldur, Ayhan, Ferrari, Rogerio; Frattesi, Matheus Henrique, Thorstvedt; Berardi, Defrel, Kyriakopoulos.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: BT Sport 1, BT Sport Ultimate (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); 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.