Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Fiorentina

The trip to Florence is always an interesting affair. And it’s become especially so the last few years as things between Juventus and Fiorentina have picked up with a pair of young Viola stars trading in the purple for the bianconero stripes in Turin. There’s also the simple matter of Fiorentina getting more competitive under Vincenzo Italiano, who is now in Year 3 at the Franchi and has his side in the top six entering the weekend.

We’re about to add the next chapter to it.

On a weekend in which plenty of folks in Tuscany don’t want football to take place, there is football taking place at the Artemio Franchi, as Juventus will try and make it three straight wins out of the October international break when they face Fiorentina. It’s second place against sixth place (at least when the weekend started), and with Milan losing Saturday night there’s the chance for Juventus to get a nice little buffer between themselves and the rest of the chasing pack as Max Allegri’s squad tries to solidify their top four chances.

This is a night that is very likely to feature contrasting styles when it comes to the two managers. We know the way Juventus are almost certainly going to play. We definitely know the way that Fiorentina under Italiano want to play and will come out and try and establish with all of their creativity and skill on the wings.

The question is, will Fiorentina be able to break down Juve’s low blow?

And, basically along those same lines, can Juve’s defense that has been very good over the course of the last six weeks, continue its run of clean sheets?

We’re about to get the answers to any sort of questions we have coming into this big game at the Franchi. An interesting night it should be — and hopefully one that sees Juve continue to get three points.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023.

Where: Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence, 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, 11:45 a.m. Pacific time.

STARTING LINEUPS

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

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Huijsen, Cambiaso, Nicolussi Caviglia, Nonge, Vlahović, Milik, Yildiz, Iling-Junior.

Fiorentina starting XI (4-2-3-1): Terracciano; Parisi, Ranieri, Martinez Quarta, Biraghi; Mandragora, Arthur; Gonzalez, Barak, Kouamé; Beltran.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: CBS Sports Network (United States); TLN (Canada); TNT Sports 1 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo (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.