Italian Serie A is back in style! There are plenty of heavyweight teams in this league this season, including these two. Juventus, the 34-time champions are again the biggest title favorites, especially now that Cristiano Ronaldo has joined the squad. However, there are several teams that are planning to crash Juve’s dreams. One of those is Lazio. Can they cause an upset at Torino’s Allianz Stadium on Saturday evening? Maybe this Juventus vs Lazio match preview will give you a clue!
Juventus
The last season’s finalists of the Champions League have huge ambitions for this season. Anything but winning Serie A is out of question, while their real challenge is the title of the European champion. Achieving that goal seems like a viable scenario, considering that their team hasn’t been this strong in a while.
Speaking of Bonucci, he didn’t have a very good game last Saturday. Juve’s defense reacted badly on several occasions against Chievo, which resulted in two conceded goals. Actually, the score in this game was 2:1 Chievo till 75’ and then in 3rd minute of the stoppage time, Juve got themselves a win.
Interestingly enough, Ronaldo failed to score on his debut. But, he did play very well in that match, just wasn’t lucky enough. That said, you can be sure that he will be super motivated to score his first ever Juventus goal this Saturday in front of his own crowd.
Lazio
The last time Lazio played at the Allianz Stadium, they beat Juve 2:1. That was almost a year ago, but Lazio still have basically the same team as the one that faced Juventus that day, with the exception of de Vrij. The Dutch defender has left for Inter Milan on a free transfer this summer and it seems Lazio haven’t found a suitable replacement for him.
They did bring Francesco Acerbi from Sassuolo, who played well in the opening round despite his team losing to Napoli 2:1. However, the other defenders, particularly Stefan Radu, were dreadful. Such poor defending could cost them not just points but also their dignity against Juventus.
Their defense is poor, but their attack is sensational. Ciro Immobile scored a fantastic goal against Napoli, showing that he’ll once again be a contender for the top scorer title in the Serie A. Apart from Lazio’s best player, Juve will have to watch out for Luis Alberto very carefully in order to keep their net safe. The same goes for Milinkovic-Savic and Lazio captain Parolo, both of whom have a fantastic season behind them.
Team News
Juventus absentees
- Mattia de Sciglio (injury)
- Leonardo Spinazzola (injury)
Lazio absentees
- Luiz Felipe (injury)
- Jordan Lukaku (injury)
- Valon Berisha (injury)
- Ricardo Kishna (injury)
- Patric (suspension)
Possible Lineups
Juventus
Szczesny – Bonucci, Chiellini, Cancelo, Alex Sandro – Can, Pjanic, Bernardeschi, Douglas Costa – Dybala, Ronaldo
Lazio
Strakosha – Radu, Acerbi, Bastos, Marusic, Caceres – Parolo, Milinkovic-Savic, Badelj – Luis Alberto, Immobile
Juventus vs Lazio Match Prediction
At home, Juventus are invincible. I can see them winning this match easily, however, judging by their defending performance and the power of Lazio’s attack, we’re probably gonna see goals on both ends. Speaking of goals, I expect to see Ronaldo scoring his first-ever Serie A goal.
Juventus vs Lazio Betting Tips
- Juventus @1.36 (bet365)
- Over 2.5 Goals @1.75 (bwin)
- BTS @2.10 (bwin)
- Cristiano Ronaldo to Score Anytime @1.83 (Ladbrokes)