Juventus welcome Cristiano Ronaldo back and give Daniele Rugani his season debut, as they must beat a revitalised Genoa to recapture top spot.
It kicks off in Turin at 20.00 GMT.
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s SEVEN Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.
Juventus welcome Cristiano Ronaldo back and give Daniele Rugani his season debut, as they must beat a revitalised Genoa to recapture top spot.
It kicks off in Turin at 20.00 GMT.
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from today’s SEVEN Serie A games on the LIVEBLOG.
The Bianconeri were held to a surprise 1-1 draw at Lecce on Saturday, but kept hold of the Serie A leadership anyway because Inter also stalled with Parma.
Antonio Conte’s men played last night in a 2-1 victory away to Brescia, at least temporarily going top of the table.
Maurizio Sarri must do without Gonzalo Higuain and Miralem Pjanic, who picked up injuries in Lecce, while Giorgio Chiellini and Mario Mandzukic remain long-term absentees.
Aaron Ramsey and Douglas Costa return from lay-offs for a spot on the bench, but Federico Bernardeschi retains his trequartista role and Rodrigo Bentancur takes over Pjanic’s midfield duties.
Cristiano Ronaldo was rested at the weekend, so is back alongside Paulo Dybala.
It had been rumoured Matthijs de Ligt would be rested for Merih Demiral, but in a surprise twist, Sarri gives Daniele Rugani his first appearance of the season.
The centre-back hasn’t featured at all since the final game of last term, a 2-0 defeat to Sampdoria on May 26.
Genoa sacked Aurelio Andreazzoli after a dire run of results and new boss Thiago Motta made the ideal debut, coming back to beat Brescia 3-1.
He even made history, as for the first time in Serie A, all three substitutes for one team were on target.
Lukas Lerager, Domenico Criscito, Stefano Sturaro, Andrea Favilli and Marko Pajac are out of action, but Thiago Motta brings all three goal-scoring substitutes into the starting XI, namely Kevin Agudelo, Goran Pandev and Christian Kouame, fanning out behind Andrea Pinamonti.
Juve have won only one of their last four Serie A meetings with Genoa when they were top of the table, 4-0 in April 2017 interrupting a draw and two defeats.
Juventus: Buffon; Cuadrado, Bonucci, Rugani, Alex Sandro; Khedira, Bentancur, Matuidi; Bernardeschi; Dybala, Ronaldo
Genoa: Radu; Ghiglione, Romero, C Zapata, Ankersen; Schone, Cassata; Agudelo; Pandev, Pinamonti, Kouame
Ref: Giua