Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Fiorentina

There are memories still fresh in my mind of Juventus beating up on Fiorentina a few years back while the club was in the middle of its Scudetto streak. We watched Simone Padon, our resident GOAT, score one of the five goals in the complete beatdown of the purple-clad gang from Florence.

It was a beautiful night.

But things against Fiorentina, especially over the same period of time during the last decade, have not always been as routine as that trip to the Franchi was. There have been no Juve blowouts or runaway wins. There has been no run of results swinging to one side to the matchup into one team’s favor. Heck, the most recent one-sided victory to happen in Turin was Fiorentina beating Juventus 3-0 a few days before Christmas, not the other way around like some might think.

So, what’s in store for all of us during tonight’s game at the Allianz Stadium?

Ahhhhhhhhh, isn’t that something we would love to know going into this very intense rivalry.

Max Allegri could trot out as many as three former Fiorentina players in his starting lineup that will take on La Viola. The hot talking point in the 24 hours leading up to tonight’s game was whether Allegri would unleash a trident with two of those former Fiorentina men, Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic, and World Cup winner Angel Di Maria. That very trident is something that we have discussed on this blog a couple of days ago.

So, what’s Max’s play? That’s what we’re about to find out.

The result could be something good. Or it could be something that doesn’t work out and sends Allegri searching for something else to ensure that his team doesn’t stumble against Nantes in the upcoming Europa League playoff.

First is Fiorentina, so let’s see where this latest meeting with La Viola takes us.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. local time in Italy and around Europe, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI (3-4-2-1): Szczesny; Danilo, Bremer, Alex Sandro; De Sciglio, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Di Maria, Chiesa; Vlahovic.

Juventus bench: Perin, Pinsoglio, Gatti, Rugani, Barbieri, Paredes, Fagioli, Barrenechea, Kean, Soulé, Iling-Junior.

Fiorentina starting XI (4-3-3): Terracciano; Dodò, Milenkovic, Ranieri, Biraghi; Bonaventura, Amrabat, Duncan; Nico Gonzalez, Kouamé, Ikoné.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: CBS Sports Network (United States); TLN (Canada); BT Sport 1 (United Kingdom); 214 DAZN Zona (Italy).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); BTSport.com, BT Sport App (United Kingdom); DAZN, 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.