AC Milan V Juventus ![juventus]()
19:45 UK
Serie A – Week 3 [20th September 2014] – Stadio San Siro
Juventus
All is well at Vinovo. Juventus have won all three of their first competitive games this season, and they are even yet to concede a goal. This week’s 2-0 victory over Malmo in Champions League provides the side with a stable start to the Champions League, something that has been an issue in the past.
But now comes Juve’s biggest test so far: a resurgent A.C. Milan side led by Pippo Inzaghi. Juventus are mostly recovered from their “injury crisis” of a week ago, with only Andrea Pirlo and Luca Marrone definitely sidelined with injuries.
We should see a very much first choice line up from Juventus here. The only question is Arturo Vidal, who will definitely be on the bench but may not start as he is just returning from injury. For now, Roberto Pereyra is in his place. However, I have gotten ahead of my self.
Gianluigi Buffon will get the start in goal, and the starters from Europe should start again: Martin Caceres, Leonardo Bonucci, and Giorgio Chiellini. Out wide, Allegri is likely to again go with the tandem of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Patrice Evra. With Asamoah not likely to start in midfield, he will be available as a substitute, but it appears Evra’s performance against Malmo was enough for Allegri to merit another start.
Claudio Marchisio and Paul Pogba start again, and joining them will most likely be Roberto Pereyra, but it could be Vidal. Things will get clearer as the match approaches, but for now Pereyra is the safe bet. Still, I’m sure we will see Vidal in at least a substitute role.
Finally, Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente return up top. Tevez had a great game versus Malmo, scoring two goals, while Llorente struggled a bit. Milan’s constant attacking could give both of these men an opportunity to strike gold in this match, which could be a good boost for Llorente’s form.
Confirmed lineup
3-5-2 : Buffon; Caceres, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Pereyra, Marchisio, Pogba, Asamoah; Llorente, Tevez
Juventus bench: Storari, Rubinho, Romulo, Ogbonna, Padoin, Pepe, Vidal, Evra, Mattiello, Coman, Morata, Giovinco
Injuries
Andrea Barzagli (Returning to fitness), Andrea Pirlo and Luca Marrone
AC Milan Scouting
Juventus will square off against Milan in the first big match of the 2014/2015 season. Other than the technical aspect, what stood out in the new course of Milan is the atmosphere now that Inzaghi at the helm. The group seems very united, motivated and enthusiastic, everybody is on the same page, the ownership is close and supports the coach, there’s no longer an ongoing cold war between the CEOs.
They didn’t have a great budget to operate with in the summer window, but the transfer market was ok: the acquisitions were smart and filled some needs, moreover they have less baggage thanks to the sale of Balotelli. Inzaghi opted for a 4-3-3 so far: very direct, fast and incisive. They heavily rely on the counter-attacking game, since they have pacey forwards. The attack with no reference points lead by Menez as false-nine has been productive.
The sample is small, but they appear to be a team that prefers letting the opponents play (47% average possession, far below Milan’s historical averages, and 17 shots conceded per game) and strike them quickly. They scored eight goals in two matches and conceded five goals in two matches (against Lazio and Parma).
At first glance, they don’t seem the insanely unbalanced Zemanian team the numbers say. The goals they conceded were caused by individual blunders and a shaky defense in general rather than by tactical recklessness. The firepower at their disposal is impressive and Inzaghi is using it in a very clever way. El Shaarawy, Bonaventura and the new and improved Menez and Honda are all technical players that are at their best in an up tempo offense that takes advantages of quick combinations, off-the-ball cuts and one-on-ones in the open space. We’ll see how Fernando Torres will fit in.
Nigel De Jong is their anchor in the midfield and probably another muscular midfielder is needed to maintain the balance, that’s why Muntari plays so much and, for instance, Cristante and not Essien left Milan in the summer. Van Ginkel should add a little more technique without losing anything from the physical standpoint.
On Saturday, Milan will be surely without Diego Lopez (biceps femoris strain), Montolivo (tibia fracture), Saponara (meniscus tear) and Alex (bruised adductor). Torres (ankle sprain) should be able to recover in time, but he’ll start from the bench. Bonera is suspended. The absences of Diego Lopez and Alex are two big blows: Abbiati is inconsistent and you never know what kind of performance he’ll make, Alex is a bigger physical presence than Rami and has more leadership. Zapata and Rami are set to be centre-backs.
There aren’t many doubts about the lineup: Abate (two assists in two matches) and De Sciglio will be the fullbacks, Poli-De Jong-Muntari in the midfield, Honda-Menez-? In the attack. Either Jack Bonaventura or Stephan El Shaarawy could be fielded as left winger. El Shaarawy is obviously a more talented player, but the characteristics are similar, all in all.
This is the first real test of the season for both Inzaghi’s Milan and Allegri’s Juventus and there’s a lot of stake: Milan have to prove that they can be true contenders, while the phantom of Conte still looms large over Allegri. It will be interesting to see whether the teams will be play head-on or they’ll be more cautious, considering the importance of the match.
Expected lineup
4-3-3 : Abbiati; Abate, Rami, Zapata, De Sciglio; Poli, De Jong, Muntari; Honda, Menez, El Shaarawy
Milan bench: Agazzi, Gori, Albertazzi, Armero, Mexes, Zaccardo, Van Ginkel, Bonaventura, Pazzini, Torres, Niang
Injured
Riccardo Montolivo, Diego Lopez, Alex and Riccardo Saponara.
Suspended
Daniele Bonera

Now i love every Juve fixture but when this fucker of a game comes round……….i know its pivotal,at any stage of the season.The prestige of this game is massive,im convinced we are not only gonna win,but can see us hammering them if we are on song.
If our defence holds then it should be an easy win as their defence is dire
Yeah our attack should show some good stuff tonight, hoping for some good goals and another strong performance by the team, the first big test of the season!
I wouldnt be surprised to see Torres start and Menez on the wing. SES has been called up too.
They are gonna come it,most milan teams do against us,we can smack these if we attack like fuck.
There;s a great post on the site from Emmet – A look back at the game between Milan and Juventus in 2005 – it’s a beautiful recap – The full game is there as well as a video.
Really poignant look back because we all know what happened to Calcio soon after. One of those truly classic games, hell of a milan side they had then, and we still beat them.
I remember most of you guys and gals were pretty ecstatic at the time – We had a shit load of comments on the site and the forum.
read that Asamoah gonna start in stead of Evra, Allegri is making good choices, IMO
FORZA JUVE ALE ALE
Reading that Pereyra will start over Vidal
Hoping he can get a good sub in the second half! Also hoping for some Morata time!
i think morata and coman can cause some real problems for milan.
Yeah me too, hope to see them both and Vidal come on today. And sooner than the 80th minute hopefully 😛
CONFIRMED:
Milan: Abbiati; Abate, Rami, Zapata, De Sciglio; Poli, De Jong, Muntari; Honda, Menez, El Shaarawy
Milan bench: Agazzi, Gori, Albertazzi, Armero, Mexes, Zaccardo, Van Ginkel, Bonaventura, Pazzini, Torres, Niang
Juventus: Buffon; Caceres, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Pereyra, Marchisio, Pogba, Asamoah; Llorente, Tevez
Juventus bench: Storari, Rubinho, Romulo, Ogbonna, Padoin, Pepe, Vidal, Evra, Mattiello, Coman, Morata, Giovinco
English stream:
https://stvstreams.com/streams/stvflash3.html
Dutch streams:
https://stvstreams.com/streams/stvflash1.html
https://forum.dazsports.org/index.php?page=stream4
Wow I was just going to look for a good stream and I read this. Cheers mate xD
Black shorts, forget it….
Here we go!
Inzaghi walked all the way to the other side of the sideline to shake Allegri’s hand. Maybe Allegri isn’t such a horibble man after all.
I dont think he was ever accused of being a horrible man :p
Wellllll the things he did with women made him look pretty bad :p
What did Pereyra say when he got his haircut? ”I want a Vidal”?
“Pogba advised me to get the special haircut from you” 😛
Haha
What the hell,something wrong with Caceres? Ogbonna in for him..
End to end game
Lich has been working on his dribbling
Well, we were the better team in the first half, also more chances to score, anything can still happen. I hope for Morata, maybe a trident or something with Tevez and Llorente.. Feel like he could really open up the Milan defense
when marchisio got yellow muntari looked like he saw his own death,
anyway good first half. pereyra really impressed me,plays really well.
Muntari is a pussy
Yea and that didnt look anyway a foul. The challenge on Pereyra by Menez was much more yellow card worthy, yet not even a foul.
Yeah or the Muntari foul on Marchisio, same thing. But gotta say, this Menez is quite a worker
I was terrified for Marchisio. Muntari looks to have vicious breathe :p
hoping to see morata get at least half an hour and for one of vidal or coman to get some playing time
Crossing fingers for that too, I’d go for Morata and Coman in this game, Pereyra seems to do well substituting Vidal, I wouldn’t risk Vidal then with such good options elsewhere
if we take the lead, i’d bring in vidal. we are struggling to destroy play in midfield.
Yeah that’s a good option in that scenario, but first we need to take the lead 😛
Thing is though, Tevez and Llorente aren’t playing bad at all
good first half we created some good chances but milan look dangerous on the counter attack
Welcome!
Yeah but they only created one dangerous chance, we can take this game from them!
Also welcome to the site
Rudy was right, these Dutch commercials are awesome
Dat frogtape right
Yup
Called it! 😛
LOL. Which ones did you like? xD
Frog tape, i enjoyed a phone company one and the one with the guy in a suit with his head in the ground
Which phone company? Telfort by any chance? And the head in the ground is a new one. Never seen it with the sound on. It’s usually off during commercials xD
I dont remember,but there was a little dancing man at the bottom left corner and they used alot of red in the ad. I mostly liked it because of the dancing man :p
I also like this ps4 one, but im sure that commercial is also aired here, but im not certain because o havent watched tv march or april
A dancing man? I don’t know which that is. The one i mean is this one: (i wonder how you see this without understanding the language)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzwEUxveiRE
Btw, Caceres injured, what happened to him? Totally missed it and still no clue what’s wrong with him
TEVEEEEZ
Tevezzzzz
TEVEZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!
Amazing assist by Pogba
Yeah thats what we want!
Pereyra coming on for Vidal… Oh wait.
lich’s final ball has been horrible
no morata nor coman
dammit allegri. i wanted to see morata
doesnt matter, we won and played great,we will see them next time i bet on it
Next game hopefully
No Morata and no Coman is giving me the sads.. But still better than Padoin! #success xD
nice win. another goal from tevez. that was nice from him
Not the greatest match, from either side, but we did solid. Failed to score or create a chance multiple times, but saw some good things from Pogba especially. Pereyra was solid again and had a good shot on goal, not sure what we could expect from Vidal yet, but i am satisfied with what he’s shown. And Tevez.. he’s becoming a goalmachine for us. Keep it up Carlos!
Tevez comes clutch again
i hope caceres’s injury isn’t bad
Pretty much the same as in the Chievo game, a good game that isn’t reflected by the result. Okay Chievo was a far more dominant win, but we were clearly better than Milan today.
Another win, another clean sheet, all that matters in the end. Grande Juve
What a game. What a goal.
4 games
maximum points
6 goals
0 goals conceded
Tevez – 4 goals in 4 games, 1 assist
god damn that was almost a perfect game. Domination.
Almost a perfect game? You are kidding right? Yes, we were the better team. But it was far from a perfect game. We had a couple of huge blunders in the defense which led to chances. Luckily these blunders is a rare thing by Bonucci and Chellini these days.
Pereyra played a hell of a game tho. I was never really keen on that signing but after seeing against Milan I feel comfortable playing him until Vidal is 100%.
Well. Like I said: ‘almost’. The way Milan defended the whole game and barely created anything, to me, is almost perfection, as their threat was nullified
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGVx1sCWDJQ
Match highlights
So the next game is on Wednesday against Cesena and Atalanta comes next. Then it’s Roma! Time to start some new players for the coming 2 games? Maybe Tevez deserves a rest now, along with maybe Lichtsteiner
Atletico between Atalanta and Roma?
I was referring to Serie A games only 😛
Yeah but all games matter. Atletico in the same week as Roma might be quite harsh. They better be up for it.
Well yeah, only more reason to start some new players against Cesena and Atalanta, gives the first XI a bit of a break and the new guys get a chance to show what they can do
https://football-italia.net/56203/zeman-jr-blames-juventus-ref
Wow, like father like son. Both bloody delusional.
lol, just lost a game? Blame Juve for it
haha that could be an ad. failed a test? blame juve! have a headache? blame juve! got fired? blame juve!
Pereyra the spirit of Vidal, but not the class… Vidal playing minutes was amazing … really happy to see him in the black and white
A very good game from Juventus. Pogba has grown a lot since May. His experience in the World Cup gave him the confidence to have a commanding presence in the pitch. I still see he has ample room for improvement from a tactical aspect, especially his defending ability. His technical and physical characteristics are superb. Pereyra was very good, but lacks consistency when compared to Vidal.
I do believe that this season will ultimately see Juventus, Roma, and AC Milan as protagonists. With the title being fought between Juventus and Roma, while AC Milan puts outside pressure as the season matures.