Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Sporting

Tonight might not be the kind of big European night in the middle of April that we were hoping for back in September and October, but it is very much the kind of occasion in which Juventus can keep their hopes of winning silverware this season alive.

Juve have yet another first leg of a Europa League tie in Turin.

And just like those first two times, Juventus will be out to try and get an early advantage before heading out on a flight to a country not named Italy for the second leg in a short amount of time.

This time around, the opponent is Sporting in the Europa League quarterfinals. Juventus. coming off one of their few losses over the last couple of months, now turn their attention back to Europe after getting past Nantes and most recently Freiburg. It will be another step up in competition against a Sporting side that is coming off arguably the biggest two-legged result of the Europa League thus far when they eliminated Premier League leaders Arsenal in the round of 16.

So, which Juventus team will we get tonight?

As we can see listed below, Max Allegri has decided to throw his two best wingers on in support of Arek Milik, with the struggling Dusan Vlahovic starting on the bench despite the fact the veteran manager has said the big Serb is capable of playing a full 90 just a few days after picking up a knock to his ankle against Lazio.

Let’s see how it pays off because we are all well aware of the fact that Sporting will pose quite a challenge for a Juve side that has not exactly been playing well coming out of the international break.

Maybe this is the night where Allegri’s squad finds their pre-international break mojo again. Or maybe this is the night where those struggles from over the weekend where Juve looked pretty poor for upward of 70 minutes only continue some more. I know which one I want...

MATCH INFO

When: Thursday, April 13, 2023.

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 (3-4-2-1): Szczesny; Gatti, Bremer, Danilo; Cuadrado, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic; Chiesa, Di Maria; Milik.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, Bonucci, Rugani, Pogba, Miretti, Paredes, Fagioli, Vlahovic, Kean.

Sporting starting XI (4-3-3): Adan; St. Juste, Coates, Goncalo Inacio; Ricardo Esgaio, Pedro Gonçalves, Morita, Chermiti; Francisco Trincao, Edwards, Nuno Santos.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: BT Sport 3 (United Kingdom); Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport 252, Sky Sport 4K (Italy).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); BTSport.com, BT Sport App (United Kingdom); DAZN, SKY Go Italia, NOW TV (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.