Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Benfica

Tonight, the Champions League anthem will blare over the speakers at the Juventus Stadium for the first time during the 2022-23 season.

Depending on how things go after that, it might be one of the last times it is heard over those same speakers this season.

Juventus faces a very, very, very important Champions League group stage game tonight as Benfica rolls into Turin for a very, very, very difficult Matchday 2 fixture. Coming off a loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the group stage opener, the reality of the situation for Juvenuts is crystal clear: you lose another game and the chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds is just that much more difficult, with at least one of your two direct rivals for a qualification spot on six points. And with PSG a massive favorite against Maccabi Haifa tonight, Juve could be looking at two teams with six points if they don’t get a win on their home turf.

It’s a big one.

It’s a very big one.

Juventus, obviously, need to play more like they did in the second half against Paris Saint-Germain than they did during the first half in Paris. That is about as clear as the situation is in the group if the Bianconeri were to lose and find themselves in a deep, deep hole after all of two games. Whether they can actually do it is another thing because things that need to be done are always so much easier to say than actually see this team go out and do it.

But hopefully they do. Or else ... yeah, I don’t even want to think about it.

MATCH INFO

When: Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

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

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-2): Perin; Bremer, Bonucci, Danilo; Cuadrado, McKennie, Paredes, Miretti, Kostic; Vlahovic, Milik.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Garofani, De Sciglio, Gatti, Rugani, Barbieri, Fagioli, Kean, Di Maria, Soulé.

Benfica starting XI (4-2-3-1): Vlachodimos; Gilberto, António Silva, Otamendi, Grimaldo; Florentino, Enzo Fernández; Neres, Rafa Silva, João Mário; Goncalo Ramos.

Benfica bench: Leite, Gilberto, Aursnes, Diogo Goncalves, Rodrigo Pinho, Chiquinho, Ristic, Brooks, Musa, Henrique Araujo, Paulo Bernardo, Draxler.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: BT Sport 7 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); BT Sport app, BTSport.com (United Kingdom); Amazon Prime Video (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.