Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. AC Milan

Back in September, Juventus had a big-time matchup right out of the first international break of the season. Coming out of the second international break of the season, an even bigger game is lying there waiting for Max Allegri and Co. at the San Siro.

No offense, Maurizio Sarri, but this is a bigger test than the first game out of an international break of the 2023-24 season.

(Guessing we won’t have to worry about Sarri complaining about that statement. But you never realllllllllllly know for sure, do you?)

Tonight, Juventus steps onto the San Siro field against not only one half of the two-headed Milan monster but one of the more impressive teams to begin the new campaign. Milan entered the international break on top of the Serie A table and has the chance to get back there against a Juventus side that enters tonight’s game having dealt with another break filled with off-field turmoil and stress galore. By no means are Milan at full strength, either, with both of their top two goalkeepers out and a 40-year-old who once backed up Gigi Buffon set to see his first playing time in quite a few months.

It is shaping up to be quite the interesting night at the San Siro.

For Juventus, it’s easy to figure out the paths that this could go down:

• A win over one of the best teams in the league means you’re closer to the top of the table and picked up another big win coming out of an international break.
• A draw and you’re probably feeling OK about things knowing who you’re missing. (Unless you play well enough to win and don’t get said win, of course.)
• A loss and all of that outside Scudetto talk probably goes away for a while and it’s top four and only top four going forward unless something drastically changes ahead of you in the table.

This could be a Choose Your Own Adventure kind of situation. Or maybe it’s Milan that chooses Juventus’ adventure on this night. Who really knows considering how Max Allegri is probably going to play this one with a shorthanded squad.

So, here goes nothin’, folks. Let’s hope this visit to San Siro to play Milan goes a little bit better than the last one 12 months ago.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, Oct. 22, 2023.

Where: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, Milan, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, 1:45 a.m. Pacific time.

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-5-2): Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Rugani; Weah, McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Milik, Kean.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Huijsen, Cambiaso, Miretti, Nicolussi Caviglia, Nonge, Chiesa, Vlahovic, Yildiz, Iling-Junior.

AC Milan starting XI (4-3-3): Mirante; Calabria, Thiaw, Tomori, Florenzi; Musah, Adli, Reijnders; Pulisic, Giroud, Leao.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: TNT Sports 1 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); discovery+, discovery+ app (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (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.