Two sides at opposing ends of the table meet tonight with Juventus pushing for their third successive Scudetto while Livorno are fighting against the drop.
The Bianconeri were on an impressive 22-match unbeaten run in Serie A but suffered a deserved defeat against Rafa Benitez’ Napoli. Juve performed poorly throughout the game with Gigi Buffon’s heroics keeping the result from being all the more embarrassing.
An accumulation of fixtures, including a strong run in the Europa League, has not helped Juve along with a host of injuries to players. Gigi Buffon identified the loss of key players as one of the reasons for the defeat: “I believe that we have been missing for a month, players of great worth – Barzagli, Ogbonna, we have Marchisio who is slowly coming back, but [yesterday] we also missed Tevez.
“In short, we were and are in an emergency for the past 30-40 days, with three games a week. It is normal that something has to give.
Carlos Tevez was suspended last time out but is set to return to the starting lineup while Arturo Vidal will be suspended having reached the yellow card limit. Angelo Ogbonna and Andrea Barzagli remain doubts for the game and Simone Pepe is a long term absentee however Federico Peluso is available.
Livorno showed resilience to battle back from two goals downs to draw against Inter Milan. Hernanes and Palacio but the Nerazzurri ahead in the first half, but Paulinho found the net early in the second before Innocent Emeghara scored the equaliser with just 10 minutes left on the clock.
With Sassuolo securing a rare win against Atalanta on the road and Bologna being the latest side to surprise Inter this weekend, the pressure is on Livorno. A win would take them out of the bottom three, leapfrogging Chievo and Bologna in the process. Boss Domenico Di Carlo praised their spirit against Inter, claiming that will help them avoid the drop. “We can always improve and I was pleased with the spirit of the team. That is the way to ensure we stay up.”
Emerson and Ibrahima Mbaye are set to miss up to a month through injury, while Alessandro Luci is a long-term absentee.
The Bianconeri have dominated this fixture, winning 14 of the 16 meetings with Livorno having won just once in Turin, way back during World War II.
Player Ratings
By David Tenenbaum
Buffon: 7. At this point, I trust Gigi Buffon more than anyone on this planet. He’s consistently excellent.
Caceres: 6.5. Another solid match from the Uruguayan. The initial few outings of this backline trio were at times shaky but they have since turned into a real solid unit. Caceres may not be Andrea Barzagli, but he’s arguably the best possible replacement.
Bonucci: 6. Decent performance. More or less on point save for a select few moments. His passing returned to form after a sloppy game in that area versus Lyon.
Chiellini: 7. One of those days where his “wreckless” challenges totally worked. Chiellini must have been inspired by playing against the team that he was discovered by. He did have a terrible shot that flew way over goal, but he’s a centerback so, one can’t hold that against him.
Lichtsteiner: 6.5. He’s always reliable out on the right. Lichtsteiner had one of his better outings lately, and he was able to create more offensively than he has been able been able to create recently.
Asamoah: 6.5. Amazing how much he has developed out on the flank. He’s becoming a very dangerous wide player, even in the attacking phase. Today he was again successful at dictating play on the left flank.
Pirlo: 7. Fine passing and somewhat surprisingly fine defending. Pirlo assisted one of Fernando Llorente’s two goals today, which capped off a nice display of passing and directing by the legendary regista.
Pogba: 7. Pogba’s form has definitely improved after a dip during wintertime, but he still didn’t show the Pogba we have sometimes seen. That said he had was effective today. He very well could have had a few assists, as he created some chances for Llorente.
Padoin (84’): s.v. He came, he saw, he conquered. Simone Padoin, owner of two Scudetti.
Marchisio: 6.5. A ton of hustle from Il Principino. Though he was playing in his traditional left sided spot, he filled the role of Arturo Vidal in the sense that he was constantly harassing opponents with his marking and tackling. Pitched in on attack too.
Llorente: 8. The man of the match. The Spanish striker scored two goals, one of which was a great strike on his part and another which could have been stopped by Francesco Bardi in an alternate universe. A phenomenal response to his recent poor form.
Vucinic (77’): s.v. He had less than 20 minutes but he never really got into a rhythm. I was very glad to see him continuing to see time though. I wonder if Conte is trying to work him in, or if they are merely showing him off to potential buyers for the summer.
Tevez: 6.5. Classic Tevez performance, missing only a goal. Got an assist for one of Llorente’s scores, and contributed his general attacking danger and constant effort.
Giovinco (66’): 6. Hardly effective. Could have been due to his time constraint, he created a bit but was mostly not involved.
First and Happy B-day Caceres.
Second and Happy B-day Caceres.
Ill continue the trend lol. Third and happy birthday el pelado!
Third and Happy B-day Caceres.
Your counting sucks 😛
yes people…. let us all wish Caceres a happy birthday and troll Markus. remember, Markus hates Caceres, so let the trolling commence!
Okay jhon.. Happy birthday caceres!
Happy Birthday to Caceres, from Marco and the Juvefc folks!
HAPPY BDAY MARTIN
when was the last time Roma made it to CL?
when they lost 7-1 to man u?
but that wasnt the real Juve, do it doesnt count
i don’t know, but can you answer me?
im pretty sure 2010/11
We’re playing our first choice xi aside from caceres and marchisio. Thats only because barzagli is injjured and vidal is suspended.
so the bench is playing against lyon…….
So far for squad rotation. But oh well, we need to wrap up Serie A before we play Roma and We should be able to just not lose to Lyon
At this rate we’ll score a goal sooner or later
goallllllllllllllllll Llorenteeeeeeee
HOW THE HELL LLORENTE 😮
THE DOUBLE
AND ANOTHER <3
is the game already in progress? booo i thought it was supposed to be on in a half hour!
We’re almost at the break xD
Edit: In short we’ve been sieging all game long so far, Livorno had one tiny chance and that’s it
yea but im tired and i thought id be watching whole thing! oh well, ill just go back to sleep….
i expect a match report from someone when i wake up :p
xD So far this IS the match report :p
‘Livorno did come back against inter.. Problem is, this isn’t inter’ well.. I have a new favourite commentator
Hahaha that’s a great comment :p
It’s sad that this Juve was missing against Napoli. Would have been a repeat of the 3-0 earlier on… We need to get rid of complacency.
its not complacency.
Bring off tevez. He’s not 100% and I dont want to tire him out or even worse injure him against livorno.
How were the goals of Llorente? Headers ? Just tuned in..
one was a brilliant turn and shoot into the top corner on his weaker foot, and the other was a header following a corner
First goal was a great example of good ball control at first touch and then a screamer in the corner of the goal.
Second goal he managed to lose his defender and tapped in an easy header
No Padoin no party.
i will party when he goes lol
Just joined in, how we playin?
Llorente!!!! First goalwas great and so unlike him. Keep it up!
and he shaved! wow his skin is amazing. what moisturizer do you think he uses? :p
nivea lol
Are you sure you’re straight? 😛
8 points Baby !!
Match review, player ratings, highlights and stats all live above
Great work! This looks amazing
kiss ass :p
jk thanks for all the great work Rav
The ratings are always terrible but other than that good work
youre a mean person. you couldve said it in a kinder manner, but nay!
They are though!
i wouldnt say terrible, but i do at times disagree, but thats everywhere! i dont think there ever has been a player summarization where anyone or everyone has agreed to every detail or anywhere near to it.
Rarely agree with ratings but sometimes the numbers just make no sense, like in this one it’s saying caceres was pretty shakey.. Which he was but then compliments bonucci and still rates caceres higher? How?
Whats wrong with them ? You disagree with the scores or the write up ?
dont worry too much Rav, hes just a troll! just kidding, but its just a difference in opinion i suppose.
I never troll jhon
The write up is normally perfect they give a good indication of how the player played but then the scores are often way off, that’s all. But let’s face it few people are ever going to agree on numbers ratings. I liked what we used to do with the vote on how players played however i understand that is more work for you guys. Would be good to have that as the bar graph ratings at the bottom of the page then have the writers ratings with his write up.
You just can’t have Caceres getting a 6.5.. I see right through you!
Not when he played like a 5/5.5! Lol
Nice work with the game thread. IMHO it would be nice to see the opponent’s statistics too (at least shots/onTarget), to get a better picture of the game without reading spoilers.
I like the way you’ve added more stats to the thread (possession, passing, stuff like that) Only thing that is maybe overdoing it a bit imo is writing down the ratings you give them twice. First there’s a list with the players and their ratings,ajd your reasoning behind it, that’s cool. But then you add those bars with the ratings again for some reason, which is strange if you ask me, doesn’t really add anything more to the thread.
Besides that I love it 🙂
you guys and your needless criticism! the second set of ratings make the site all the more prettier! :p
We are constructive though! Besides, he asked for it.. 😛
I’ve found that when you create something, it’s nice to have other people looking it from different view, pointing out things you would otherwise overlook.
i know :p im mostly kidding, but i do like the second set of ratings which is why i replied to Belgian… moar colors, moar fun!
I said it in a positive way! 😛 I just dont get the reason for posting it twice, seems like overdoing it 😛
im mostly kidding :p
but i like the colors that come with the 2nd set of ratings
Would be nicer if it was one, colourful set of ratings, colours and explanations of the ratings 😛
Llorente is the 3rd player to score 10+ goals this season. Last year, no one scored more than 10 goals(in serie a i think)
there was a 4.7 or 5.1 earthquake that hit Italy just outside of Torino.
whoa. where people hurt?
not sure, i just read about it. earthquakes have been everywhere lately tho. today was Italy, last week, chile and 2 weeks ago, a series of short quakes plagued Cali after a 4.7-5 hit us.
the earthquake was in france, close to the italian birder
dammit i read “earthquake just outside of Turin” and assumed it was in Italy.
rumors say that management are seriously considering bringing back Berardi.
also a Gio-Paletta transfer is up in the air. i want Paletta. he seems to be one of serie a’s highly rated Cb’s from what ive been reading and the two times i did watch him play, he did really impress me. plus hes 28, he could very well be hitting his prime and we all know Barzagli has been struggling with injuries lately, and with the WC just around the corner, i dont see how things could get better for him in regards to his injuries. plus Conte could give him some insightful tips on where to get a quality hair transplant.
Bringing in berardi sounds great, if he also gets to play. Conte has to think this through very well, it would be such a waste to bring Berardi in only to let him play Coppa games and rot on the bench.
I dont see the need for Paletta, I rather keep Gio with us. Enough young defenders with loads of talent to bring in, like Masi or Rugani, who will cost far less and offer a lot more in the long term. Besides we also have Ogbonna, who hasn’t really played much yet (also had his share in injuries but besides that), so why bring in a 28year old defender who is in good shape at the moment
if Berardi is as hardworking and intelligent as i read, i dont see how he could not get mins.
i strongly believe in Paletta. i feel this is not just him going through a good moment, but him just about to hit world class caliber. when it comes to defending, experience is dire, so purchasing a 28 yr old in the defensive department shouldnt really bother us and we did purchase Barzagli at the age of 30. yes we have loads of young talents as well, but they havent even had experience in serie a yet and it may take a couple or more years for them to be ready.
Conte isn’t really giving youth many opportunities, besides Pogba. Berardi may profit more from another year at another club before joining us, unless Conte is convinced he will use him as a starter or at least push for a starting position.
I also value Paletta but he’s not someone Juve needs imo. Our starters are great, Caceres improving as CB, Ogbonna hardly plays already. Then other players we have like the two I mentioned, also Marrone can play as CB. Paletta would be a “fun” addition if he doesnt cost too much. But trading Gio for him, no way. Gio for Paletta + cash, maybe. Still rate Gio higher.
Especially since we have two other strikers leaving the club (Quags and Vucinic) I rather keep Gio in the team and add another good striker with the money we get from Mirko and Quags
Pogba s getting min because he has a special talent and is a physical presence. Berardi is 6’1 and is said to possess special qualities and if we were to switch to a formation involving wingers, im sure he d be able to get mins.
yea i agree, we dont really need Paletta, but i do feel he would upgrade our squad exponentially. Caceres IS improving, but hes still what i call “solid enough” imo, but at the same time i wouldnt want to exchange him for Gio nor did i ever say it. i still believe in Gio and am really hoping he brings out hos quality soon.
Caceres shouldn’t be considered as a CB but we still don’t need paletta, especially not for gio. Far better give the shot to Rugani or masi who could offer far more in the long run as well as immediately
Paletta is on the brinks of being a super beast of a defender and him moving to a top club with a top coach can be that push he needs. plus hes Italian! dont you love Italian men Marc?
but yea, i dont want him at the expense of Gio
He’s fake Italian so not so much, I’d prefer him to caceres but I’d rather see Rugani or masi in the team
Yeah I fully agree on Berardi, just saying that he should play if he joins us. Conte sometimes has weird ideas on who should play, just look at Padoin. If Berardi joins us I’d be thrilled, but he should play.
I also still prefer Caceres as a RB/RWB cause he’s far better there imo, but with playing so may games as CB you can see he’s growing into it. Adding Paletta just isnt really necessary, I much prefer youngsters playing than have some 28year old being bought because he suddenly plays well.
yea Conte can work in mysterious ways when it comes to player selection.
yea, Paletta is definitely a luxury, but who knows, maybe his transfer may be needed.
Nah, if (when) Barzagli leaves we should just add Masi/Rugani to the team and go on, defence is solid enough as it is. Paletta is not that good that he could be a Juve starter anyway
If we are getting rid of gio, Id much rather sell him and get a good winger. We have 5 CB’s. There is no need for 6
5 cbs and 1 of them has become regularly injured and Chiellini has a history with being injured as well.
Anyone know when the europa league final is scheduled?
Wednesday 14 May
Ooooooh my dad’s birthday!lol…..Hope we make it through!
Lol that would be some birthday present to win it then :p
Sure would mate….the stepping stone for the champions league.
Great turn and shot from Llorente for the first goal,magica llorente!!!!
Next….Lyon….lets have it lads!!!!!
p.s.g to beat chelshit tonight??????
Here’s hoping!
Me too,i think they can do it.
Padoin could be on the verge of having 3 Serie a winners medals!!!!!!now thats a cv!!!!!
Damn, I was saving this for a while. “Guess who won more Serie A golds than Kaka?”
OMG…..lol amazing!
Haha :DD
why only Padoin?
Was just picking on padoin lol.
Boo! chelsea and Madrid are through
And another semi final for Mourinho
Mourinho merda! just joking :p
his record at stamford bridge is crazy, but i wish Zlatan and Veratti would have progressed.
yea i feel bad for Zlatan too
Verratti yes, screw ibra
i love Ibra Marc.
As above.. Screw the traitor
Ibra yes, screw you 🙁
Why would you be bothered by a traitor failing to make the semi finals? I say it again.. Screw ibra.
smh p$g, what a $hit team
P(aris) S(ay) G(oodbye)
Di$agree
They’re overdependent on ibra. without him they’re just an above average team.
Mario revolori… the guy in Everybody i hates chris that i was speaking of. his brother whom i also know is in the new movie called the grand budhabist hotel. i just found out… im so startstruck
How many other movie stars do you kno? Next we’ll be seeing john in movies next to kate upton and stuff 😛
He could get us all a role in a Juventus movie!
theyre the only ones i knew. but i only knew them for like a month or 2… which sucks. i really got along with them both. they even said i was the coolest person out of all the people we play with :’) but my friend whom lives right across from(whom also plays in the same pick up games as us) told me that theyre going to move to LA. i guess a bunch of opportunities opened up for Tony after his movie.
i dont know many other movie stars, but i know some of many whom was close to making it as a professional footballer :p
Somewhat agree but they just went into this game with wrong mentality I think. Trusting n their lead too much and they brought nothing in attack
It’$ not a $hit team, but they are too dependent on Ibra. Where are my damn $’$? :$ I wanted to write a huge a$$ reply with alot of tho$e $’$, but there were barely any $’$. That moment you reali$e the letter $ i$n’t u$ed THAT much.
anyone else listen to the World Cup songs yet? heres some words of advice: DONT. Shakira s song sounded like she threw random beats and random words onto a song sheet; Pitbulls sounded like vomit, plain and simple as that. im still at awe at how anyone in a proper state of mind would sign him onto a record label. he rhymes the word “world” with the word … *wait for it* “world” , about 3 times in one song phrase or line(whatever you call a paragraph for music). ever heard of creativity Pitbull… or a dictionary? i cant believe these are the songs to represent the world cup.
Just read the names of the singers, that says enough 😛 Shakira is shaking her ass and thats about it and Pitbull is well known for just talking random crap and selling it as a song xD
but i thoroughly enjoyed Shakiras song for the 2010 WC. Its was awesome and mixed well with the African culture theme. i was expecting more of the same, but its terrible; doesnt even have a Brazil-esque feel. shes columbian for goodness sake, she shouldnt have trouble making a song that compliments her neighboring country.
i dont know why they allowed pitbull to make a song for the WC. have they never heard his music in the past? i expected it to be bad, but it was worst than i first expected. i wasnt able to listen to either songs for more than about 15 secs at the most.
Why is it Shakira again anyway –‘ And Pitbull for a WC song is ridiculous idd, but he’s just ridiculous so thats kinda logic :p
Columbian heritage, being in relations with Pique… i have no idea. like i said in the above, she did a great job for 2010, but this time around, its crap crap crap. a re occuring theme seems to be her saying “leggo”… like why cant you speak normally? your audience isnt a bunch of hipsters. i dont believe she wrote this song.
I dont think she can write for that matter 😛 The 2010 song was okay, I’ll give her that. Havent heard the new one yet and reading this I’ll delay that until the world cup actually starts :p
dont waste even a sec on it. maybe its just mt opinion, but its horrible.
The world cup is in Brazil, not Colombia. Her being in a relationship with Pique shouldn’t matter.
they were just major guesses. i didnt put much thought in them at all.
If this guy aint singing it, i’m not interested!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIlXITKRZSw
that song was so awesome
Really sad to hear about WWE icon ULTIMATE WARRIOR dead!!!!!!RIP WARRIOR.
Caceres was asked today if cavani was gonna leave psg (since the two are really good friends) but a juve rep told him not to answer that
New match preview for Lyon v Juve