Game Time Thread: Juventus vs. Real Madrid

There was a quick moment during Real Madrid’s first game of its U.S. tour against AC Milan last week where the ESPN+ cameras just scrolled across the Spanish giants’ bench. One by one the players came and went, pretty much every single one of them a recognizable face at the bare minimum and a really good player in most cases.

I bring this up because when Juventus’ second string came in against that same Milan side in last Thursday night’s win on penalties in Southern California, most of the players had numbers in the 30s and 40s and will be either part of the Next Gen squad or sent on loan.

So, yeah. When Juventus and Real Madrid play tonight in Florida, the state of the two squads will be very, very different — and not exactly a good thing if you’ve got the same rooting allegiances as the guy writing out these words.

Just as it was a year ago, Juve’s final friendly of the U.S. tour will be against old buddy Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid. That friendly a little over a year ago did not go well, with Real Madrid very much out-classing Juventus and basically giving us a sign of what was to come as the games that actually counted arrived.

So here’s to hoping that this year’s friendly meeting with Real Madrid doesn’t go as poorly as that one. Or maybe it will considering the look of the two squads entering this visit to Florida.

MATCH INFO

When: Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.

Where: Camping World Stadium, Orlando, Florida.

Official kickoff time: 7:30 p.m. local time in Florida, 1:30 a.m. in Italy and the Central European Time Zone, 12:30 a.m. in the United Kingdom, 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, 4:30 p.m. Pacific time.

STARTING LINEUPS

Juventus starting XI: Szczesny; Danilo, Bremer, Alex Sandro; Weah, Miretti, Locatelli, McKennie, Kostic; Church, Kean.

Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Daffara, Gatti, Rugani, De Winter, Huijsen, Cambiaso, Barrenechea, Soulé, Nicolussi C., Iling-Junior, Nonge, Vlahovic, Milik, Yildiz.

Real Madrid starting XI (4-3-1-2): Courtois; Vasquez, Rudiger, Nacho, Garcia; Kroos, Modric, Camavinga; Bellingham; Joselu, Vinicius.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: None.

Online/Streaming: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); 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.