Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Bologna

Everybody knew the importance that the month of April had for the remainder of Juventus’ season. It wasn’t just what was going on off the field, but on the field there were major impacts on all three fronts — and the fate of the final month of the season was going to be crafted over the course of Juve’s gauntlet of a four-week stretch this month.

Entering tonight’s game against Bologna, this is how the month of April is looking:

• Loss to Lazio (Serie A)
• Win over Sporting (Europa League)
• Loss to Sassuolo (Serie A)
• Draw with Sporting (Europa League)
• Loss to Napoli (Serie A)
• Loss to Inter (Coppa Italia)

That’s one win, one draw and four losses in the last six games in all competitions for Juventus. They enter the trip to the Renato Dall’Ara having lost three straight in Serie A, and while the 15 points penalty being at least temporarily suspended, the fact that Juventus is again struggling to consistently pick up points means that there is most definitely some uneasy moments ahead when it comes to securing a spot in the top four. (And that doesn’t even take into account that the FIGC appeals court might still have a say in things before the season comes to an end.)

Results-wise, Juventus is very much limping to begin the final march to the finish line.

Performance-wise, things aren’t much better — which makes you wonder if this squad is starting to hit a wall for whatever kind of reason.

And it’s not like Bologna have been the predictable win that they’ve been in previous years. Our old buddy from Inter, Thiago Motta, has Bologna playing good enough ball to come into this weekend in eighth place — which, if Juventus hadn’t temporarily gotten their points back last week, would have made this matchup even the more interesting. (It’s also led to Thiago Motta being linked to some much bigger jobs.)

So let’s see if the Coppa Italia hangover is there or if Juventus can put an end to this domestic losing streak and hopefully start to get back on the right track entering the final month of the season.

MATCH INFO

When: Sunday, April 29, 2023.

Where: Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Bologna, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. local time in Italy and around Europe, 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 (4-3-3): Szczesny; Cuadrado, Gatti, Danilo, Alex Sandro; Fagioli, Locatelli, Rabiot; Chiesa, Milik, Kostic.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Perin, De Sciglio, Bremer, Bonucci, Rugani, Pogba, Miretti, Paredes, Vlahović, Soulé, Iling-Junior.

Bologna starting XI (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; Posch, Soumaoro, Lucumi, Kyriakopoulos; Moro, Schouten; Orsolini, Dominguez, Barrow; Ferguson.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: BT Sport 1 (United Kingdom).

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