The Coppa Italia treats football to an extra edition of the Derby della Mole in the Round of 16

 

Date: Wednesday, December 16

Time: 8:45 local time, 7:45 UK time, 2:45 EST

Venue: Juventus Stadium, Turin

TV Info: No live U.S. or UK feeds

Live Stream: beIN Sports Connect

 

Juventus are back.

After a horrific start to the season saw them lose more games in 10 weeks than they did throughout the entirety of last season, the Bianconeri are rocketing their way up the table.  A 1-0 loss to Sassuolo saw the team’s leaders call out the rest of the players to pick up their game—especially captain Gianluigi Buffon, speaking to the club website (via Sky Sports).

Their next league game happened to be the season’s first Turin derby.  Although they took the lead through a Paul Pogba screamer 20 minutes in, Cesare Bovo equalized just after halftime, and the game turned into an uninspiring slog that didn’t look like it was going to end with a win for either team.

Then Juve’s season turned around in the blink of an eye.  Alex Sandro’s cross looked to have missed everyone in the box, only to bounce off of Juan Cuadrado’s rear end and trickle into the net.  It was an eerie copy of last season’s game between the two at the Juventus Stadium, when Andrea Pirlo’s long-range screamer gave Juve a 2-1 victory with only four seconds left in the match.

The win kicked off a run that turned the Serie A title race on it’s head.  Sunday’s 3-1 win over Fiorentina was the team’s sixth straight in the league.  They were in 12th place at the beginning of that streak, 11 points behind then-leaders Roma.  They have now nearly halved that deficit, having climbed to fourth place, only six points behind leaders Inter Milan.

Torino’s season has been the inverse.  They started the season with a 4-1-1 record and were in third place after their 2-1 victory over Palermo at the end of September.  But they spent the next six games without a win, losing four of those matches.

The run dumped them to mid-table, currently sitting in 11th place. However, they have a game in hand, after their match with Sassuolo was postponed due to fog, and could vault as high as seventh if they win the rescheduled match.

Now, though, the two teams’ focus turns to each other.  Torino have shown over the last two seasons that they can hang with their neighbors again.  They forced miracle finishes from the Bianconeri on their last two visits to the Juventus Stadium and finally beat them in the return match last year for the first time since they did the double over them in the 1994-95.

Juve will have to be on their guard, but expect both teams to rotate a bit midweek, especially Juve, who have finally completed a grueling group-stage campaign in the Champions League.  History isn’t on their side here.  In spite of their general dominance of the Derby della Mole as a whole, Juve have never directly eliminated Torino from this tournament.

 

Form Lines

*UEFA Champions League match.

**Last scheduled match at Sampdoria postponed due to fog, rescheduled match reportedly will be in January.

***Coppa Italia match

 

Projected Lineups

Juventus (3-5-2)	Torino (3-5-2)
Neto	Castelazzi
Rugani  Bonucci  Chiellini	Jansson  Glik  Silva
Cuadrado  Sturaro  Marchisio  Padoin  Sandro	Peres  Obi  Vives  Acquah  Avelar
Zaza  Morata	Lopez  Belotti

 

Key Players

Alvaro Morata has been playing from the bench for the better part of a month now.  Part of that stems from the fact that Mario Mandzukic has been scoring with regularity; part of it stems from the fact that his hot start to the season has fallen off.

Morata started in last week’s Champions League group-stage finale against Sevilla when Mandzukic was struck down by the flu, and it was obvious that the lack of playing time had eroded his sharpness.  He missed several good chances, including at least one where it was harder to miss than score.

To be fair to the young Spaniard, Sevilla goalkeeper Sergio Rico turned in one of the best performances in recent Champions League history that night, and the fact that Morata was in dangerous positions and missing the target by fractions was better than him being anonymous.

Morata needs to be allowed to play himself back into form, and judging from his performance last week, he probably isn’t that far off.  Fortunately, the Coppa tends to trigger a good amount of squad rotation, especially in deeper squads like Juve’s.  Morata will likely be given the majority of the game and may be able to make the kind of statement that will put him back in the conversation for the starting lineup.

On the other end, look for Bruno Peres to continue tormenting Juve’s left flank.  His stunning solo goal last year at the Juventus Stadium looked good enough for a point before Pirlo’s heroics, and his continued marauding down the flank has given the Bianconeri problems every time he has started against them.

The Brazilian wing-back could end up in a one-on-one duel with Alex Sandro for possession of that side of the field—and the winner of that battle could go a long way toward winning his team the war.

 

Key Matchup

Win the midfield battle and you almost always win the game.  For the men who will likely be playing in front of their respective defenses on Wednesday, winning that battle will be the imperative.

If anyone doubted how important Claudio Marchisio is to Juventus, those doubts should be dispelled now.  The midfielder has been a part of the club since joining their academy at the age of eight and has lived this derby as both a fan and a player his entire life.

Juve’s terrible form at the start of the season coincided directly with Marchisio’s absence due to a leg injury.  The midfield ended up seriously unbalanced, and without him there, Paul Pogba tried to do too much to compensate.

Now that Marchisio is back, the entire team has a calmness that they lacked at the beginning of the year.  Il Principino doesn’t play the regista system the same way Pirlo did, but his method still works.  While the team may occasionally miss the devastating channel-runs he made when he played box-to-box with Pirlo in front of the defense, it’s now clear that without where he is now, they’re a shell of themselves.

The man he’s likely to face is Giuseppe Vives.  The 35-year-old midfielder has been a top performer this year.  According to WhoScored.com, he’s completed 85.7 percent of his passes and averaged 3.3 tackles and 2.2 interceptions.

Giampiero Ventura isn’t the kind of coach to pack and defend, especially not in a derby.  Vives will be a key factor in whether Torino can keep the midfield under control.  If he succeeds in stopping up the middle of the park and forcing Juve’s attack wide, the Granata will take a major step toward neutralizing their rivals.

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