b&w & read all over 
12-04-2024 23:56
12-04-2024 23:56
Torino vs. Juventus match preview: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch the Serie A
Back before Juventus’ season went into a tailspin a couple of months ago, their cushion over the rest of the top four contenders was so plentiful that you might have thought they could be close to wrapping up their spot in next season’s Champions League right about now. But because things went from great to, well, the opposite very much in a hurry, that breathing room over the rest of the chasing pack is now virtually gone. So now, with seven games remaining in the 2023-24 season, any potential slip up means that things go form stressful to things getting even closer than they already are.
With the second and final Derby della Mole of the season going down this weekend at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, that big lead over third, fourth and fifth is now all of four points between fourth-place Bologna and Roma not too far behind then in fifth. That means, with one of the very mid- or lower-table teams still on the schedule,
But, it’s also a Turin derby.
And we all know what means when the Turin derby arrives.
/insert your usual “throw the form guide out the window!” kind of statement here/
OK, OK. So I won’t go there with the cliché statements even though ... they ... are ... pulling ... at me because this is a preview of the Turin derby and anything that comes with it.
Here’s what matters most to Juventus outside of the simple fact that the chance to beat little brother Torino is on the table yet again: You win Saturday night, and the likelihood that you’re potentially qualifying for next season’s Champions League becomes a little more possible. And knowing that the schedule following this trip over to the Olimpico in Turin and next Friday’s trip to Sardinia to face Claudio Ranieri and Cagliari is going to be absolutely brutal, this Derby della Mole has quite the importance level attached to it. Max Allegri was there to tell you that when he stepped in front of the microphone Friday and answer the usual questions from the Italian media at his pre-match press conference. He discussed the importance of facing Torino, the importance of doing well against Torino and that, surprise, his team are still on target to achieve their No. 1 goal entering the season.
Very frankly, he also spoke about just how difficult an opponent Torino can be. And as much as we sometimes poo-poo the things Allegri says before and after his team plays, he ain’t wrong when he says this: “(Torino) are among the best defenses in the league, and then it’s a derby, they play at home and have their own objectives.”
Torino, under Ivan Juric’s watchful eye, have a defense that currently ranks as the fourth-best in all of Serie A. That is just a couple of spots and a couple of goals worse than the team they will be playing on Saturday night, which tells you all you need to know about the brand of ball they play and how difficult it might be for Juventus. And when it comes to Torino playing at home, that same defense is even a tougher task to get something against, with just eight goals allowed in 15 games.
The problem with Torino is very much the problem that we’ve seen with Juventus for a good portion of this season, managerial tactics not withstanding — it’s about scoring goals.
While they have one of the best defenses in the league, that can’t be said the same about their attack. In 31 games, Torino have scored a grand total of ... 31 goals. The only teams who have scored less are those who are in the relegation zone or trying to avoid it at this stage of the season. That’s not great. It’s easily one of the biggest reasons why Torino aren’t challenging for some sort of European spot next season. it’s a lot like Juventus this season: the defense can only be great for so long if you aren’t scoring the goals to get you wins.
For Juventus, though, they have recorded two straight wins — one in the Coppa Italia semifinals then last weekend against Fiorentina — after going two months with all of one win to their name. We don’t know if it’s the start of something new, or if the same team we saw during that nine-game run is going to show its face again this weekend on the granata side of Turin. Maybe a few wins in the span of five days can be the thing that starts to turn the tide in Juve’s favor again. Or maybe it doesn’t. We, right now, just don’t know.
But what we do know is this: Juventus have seven games left, they have a four-point lead over fourth-place Bologna and their final month of the season is going to be absolutely brutal when it comes to their opposition. The best thing they can do as this final month and a half of the season begins: just avoid the disaster that comes with more dropped points.
It’s simple, folks. It really is. But as the last 2 1⁄2 months have taught us, this team doesn’t do simple. They’ve turned a very comfortable second-place standing into anything but that. (And not even in second place anymore because of it!) Now it’s just about saving face and preventing further tenuous moments when it comes to where they sit in the Serie A table.
Arek Milik is the only name on Juventus’ injured list. He is expected back in the next week or two, according to Allegri.
The two suspended midfielders, Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli, are still suspended.
When it comes to the starting lineup, Max Allegri said he has “two doubts” and will decide on them Saturday morning. Those two decisions are between which wingbacks he will go with in the starting lineup.
We know this because, in a rare moment of honesty when it comes to his lineup, Allegri said the following: “My two doubts for (Saturday) are between Kostic and Iling, and between Cambiaso and Weah.”
To beat Torino, Allegri said his team has “to be at our best.” (Crazy talk, I know.)
When it comes Allegri’s continuous references to qualifying for the Champions League, he said: “To be on track in our goals is a beautiful thing, it gives you adrenalin and makes you yearn for victories.”
Back in early October, the Big Cat probably made a few of his Torino-loving family members more than just a little bit grumpy. Or maybe just mixed emotions considering their boy scored the game-winner against their favorite club.
So, let’s just go ahead and talk about the guy who very much splits opinions around here. Let me just lay this question out for you to try and answer ...
Did you know that on top of being one of the highest scoring center backs in Europe’s top five leagues this season, Federico Gatti also has as many goals as teammate Adrien Rabiot during the 2023-24 campaign?
Yeah, it’s funny because I was just reminded of that right before I typed out the last couple of sentences.
We know Gatti has the very Giorgio Chiellini-like trait where he wants to attack and get involved in making runs from his defensive position on the right side of Juve’s three-man backline. He, at times, resembles a fullback even though he is very much not a fullback when it comes to his actual physical traits. And as we know, those four goals that he has scored aren’t exactly from long, marauding runs from one end of the field or the other. He is one of Juve’s biggest threats on set pieces — and the results are there for everybody to see.
But the reason why Gatti is the pick here is not just because he scored against Torino the last time the two Turin rivals played. It’s most because in games like this, I get a little worried for the player who is probably the most mistake-prone at the back for Juventus these days. Because, yes, Turin derbies are usually pretty tight no matter how you try to avoid the clichés and everything, one mistake can end up costing you in these types of games that are almost always catering to a corto muso kind of deal.
So let us hope that Gatti’s next error that leads to a goal is maybe saved until, I dunno, early next season? Yeah, that sounds great. Or maybe just next summer when there isn’t a place in the Champions League riding on it? That sounds good, too.
MATCH INFO
When: Saturday, April 13, 2024.
Where: Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: TNT Sports 4 (United Kingdom).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); discovery+, discovery+ app (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy, 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.
With the second and final Derby della Mole of the season going down this weekend at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, that big lead over third, fourth and fifth is now all of four points between fourth-place Bologna and Roma not too far behind then in fifth. That means, with one of the very mid- or lower-table teams still on the schedule,
But, it’s also a Turin derby.
And we all know what means when the Turin derby arrives.
/insert your usual “throw the form guide out the window!” kind of statement here/
OK, OK. So I won’t go there with the cliché statements even though ... they ... are ... pulling ... at me because this is a preview of the Turin derby and anything that comes with it.
Here’s what matters most to Juventus outside of the simple fact that the chance to beat little brother Torino is on the table yet again: You win Saturday night, and the likelihood that you’re potentially qualifying for next season’s Champions League becomes a little more possible. And knowing that the schedule following this trip over to the Olimpico in Turin and next Friday’s trip to Sardinia to face Claudio Ranieri and Cagliari is going to be absolutely brutal, this Derby della Mole has quite the importance level attached to it. Max Allegri was there to tell you that when he stepped in front of the microphone Friday and answer the usual questions from the Italian media at his pre-match press conference. He discussed the importance of facing Torino, the importance of doing well against Torino and that, surprise, his team are still on target to achieve their No. 1 goal entering the season.
Very frankly, he also spoke about just how difficult an opponent Torino can be. And as much as we sometimes poo-poo the things Allegri says before and after his team plays, he ain’t wrong when he says this: “(Torino) are among the best defenses in the league, and then it’s a derby, they play at home and have their own objectives.”
Torino, under Ivan Juric’s watchful eye, have a defense that currently ranks as the fourth-best in all of Serie A. That is just a couple of spots and a couple of goals worse than the team they will be playing on Saturday night, which tells you all you need to know about the brand of ball they play and how difficult it might be for Juventus. And when it comes to Torino playing at home, that same defense is even a tougher task to get something against, with just eight goals allowed in 15 games.
The problem with Torino is very much the problem that we’ve seen with Juventus for a good portion of this season, managerial tactics not withstanding — it’s about scoring goals.
While they have one of the best defenses in the league, that can’t be said the same about their attack. In 31 games, Torino have scored a grand total of ... 31 goals. The only teams who have scored less are those who are in the relegation zone or trying to avoid it at this stage of the season. That’s not great. It’s easily one of the biggest reasons why Torino aren’t challenging for some sort of European spot next season. it’s a lot like Juventus this season: the defense can only be great for so long if you aren’t scoring the goals to get you wins.
For Juventus, though, they have recorded two straight wins — one in the Coppa Italia semifinals then last weekend against Fiorentina — after going two months with all of one win to their name. We don’t know if it’s the start of something new, or if the same team we saw during that nine-game run is going to show its face again this weekend on the granata side of Turin. Maybe a few wins in the span of five days can be the thing that starts to turn the tide in Juve’s favor again. Or maybe it doesn’t. We, right now, just don’t know.
But what we do know is this: Juventus have seven games left, they have a four-point lead over fourth-place Bologna and their final month of the season is going to be absolutely brutal when it comes to their opposition. The best thing they can do as this final month and a half of the season begins: just avoid the disaster that comes with more dropped points.
It’s simple, folks. It really is. But as the last 2 1⁄2 months have taught us, this team doesn’t do simple. They’ve turned a very comfortable second-place standing into anything but that. (And not even in second place anymore because of it!) Now it’s just about saving face and preventing further tenuous moments when it comes to where they sit in the Serie A table.
Arek Milik is the only name on Juventus’ injured list. He is expected back in the next week or two, according to Allegri.
The two suspended midfielders, Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli, are still suspended.
When it comes to the starting lineup, Max Allegri said he has “two doubts” and will decide on them Saturday morning. Those two decisions are between which wingbacks he will go with in the starting lineup.
We know this because, in a rare moment of honesty when it comes to his lineup, Allegri said the following: “My two doubts for (Saturday) are between Kostic and Iling, and between Cambiaso and Weah.”
To beat Torino, Allegri said his team has “to be at our best.” (Crazy talk, I know.)
When it comes Allegri’s continuous references to qualifying for the Champions League, he said: “To be on track in our goals is a beautiful thing, it gives you adrenalin and makes you yearn for victories.”
Back in early October, the Big Cat probably made a few of his Torino-loving family members more than just a little bit grumpy. Or maybe just mixed emotions considering their boy scored the game-winner against their favorite club.
So, let’s just go ahead and talk about the guy who very much splits opinions around here. Let me just lay this question out for you to try and answer ...
Did you know that on top of being one of the highest scoring center backs in Europe’s top five leagues this season, Federico Gatti also has as many goals as teammate Adrien Rabiot during the 2023-24 campaign?
Yeah, it’s funny because I was just reminded of that right before I typed out the last couple of sentences.
We know Gatti has the very Giorgio Chiellini-like trait where he wants to attack and get involved in making runs from his defensive position on the right side of Juve’s three-man backline. He, at times, resembles a fullback even though he is very much not a fullback when it comes to his actual physical traits. And as we know, those four goals that he has scored aren’t exactly from long, marauding runs from one end of the field or the other. He is one of Juve’s biggest threats on set pieces — and the results are there for everybody to see.
But the reason why Gatti is the pick here is not just because he scored against Torino the last time the two Turin rivals played. It’s most because in games like this, I get a little worried for the player who is probably the most mistake-prone at the back for Juventus these days. Because, yes, Turin derbies are usually pretty tight no matter how you try to avoid the clichés and everything, one mistake can end up costing you in these types of games that are almost always catering to a corto muso kind of deal.
So let us hope that Gatti’s next error that leads to a goal is maybe saved until, I dunno, early next season? Yeah, that sounds great. Or maybe just next summer when there isn’t a place in the Champions League riding on it? That sounds good, too.
MATCH INFO
When: Saturday, April 13, 2024.
Where: Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy.
Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.
HOW TO WATCH
Television: TNT Sports 4 (United Kingdom).
Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); discovery+, discovery+ app (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy, 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.