Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Paris Saint-Germain

So, here we are. The first Champions League game of the 2022-23 season. And it just so happens that the first European adventure that Juventus is going to take comes against a Paris Saint-Germain side that has three of the best forwards in a game and a goal differential that you only see in video games at this point in the season.

Gets you all kinds of optimistic, doesn’t it?

OK, so maybe it’s the opposite of optimistic because this same PSG side will be facing a Juventus squad that is both shorthanded due to key players injured and completely underwhelming based on what they’ve done in recent weeks.

Either way, Juventus enters tonight’s Champions League group stage opener against Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and the rest Paris Sant-Germain’s expensive-as-all-hell roster far from at their best. And that’s not even taking into account just how Max Allegri’s squad has been playing. The first half against Roma was a week and a half ago, but it feels like much, much longer than that because of how that game ended and how the subsequent two outings have gone since.

We get to see if Juventus will be competitive against a high-powered team like PSG or if the form we’ve seen from Allegri’s squad — and, honestly, Allegri himself — over much of the first weeks of the new season continues on the European stage.

The odds say Juve are big underdogs, and it’s not like they’ve done much of anything this season to dispute any of that. Maybe Juve comes out of this with a result, but they’re going to need to play about as well as they’ve played all season — or better — to try and ensure that something like that actually happens.

But if Juventus is on the losing end, well ... I don’t really want to think about that.

Or maybe I already have thought about that and it’s not exactly something I want to repeat through my thought process until the game actually kicks off and things happen.

MATCH INFO

When: Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.

Where: Parc des Princes, Paris, France.

Official kickoff time: 9 p.m. local time in France 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; Danilo, Bonucci, Bremer; Cuadrado, Miretti, Paredes, Rabiot, Kostic; Vlahovic, Milik.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Garofani, De Sciglio, Alex Sandro, Gatti, Rugani, Locatelli, McKennie, Fagioli, Kean, Soulé.

Paris Saint-Germain starting XI (3-4-3): Donnarumma; Ramos, Marquinhos, Kimpembe; Hakimi, Vitinha, Verratti, Nuno Mendes; Messi, Mbappé, Neymar

Paris Saint-Germain bench: Navas, Rico, Fabian Ruiz, Bernat, Danilo, Renato Sanches, Sarabia, Mukiele, Soler, Ekitike,

HOW TO WATCH

Television: TUDN USA, Univision (United States); BT Sport 5 (United Kingdom); Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport 252, Sky Sport 4K (Italy).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+, TUDN.com, TUDN app, Univision NOW (United States); DAZN (Canada); BTSport.com, BT Sport app (United Kingdom); Sky GO Italia, NOW TV, Mediaset Infinity (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.