TOPSHOT - Juventus' forward from Portugal Cristiano Ronaldo scores a goal during the friendly football match between Juventus A and Juventus B at Villar Perosa, on August 12, 2018 at Villar Perosa. (Photo by Isabella Bonotto / AFP) (Photo credit should read ISABELLA BONOTTO/AFP/Getty Images) Chievo face Juventus at the Bentegodi Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18. Here’s all the info you need to watch. Juventus officially open the Cristiano Ronaldo era on Saturday, when they play Chievo Verona in the season-opener to the Serie A season. The Old Lady, winners of the last seven straight league titles, is favorite once again, although contenders like Napoli, who finished runners up last season, as well as Roma and Inter Milan are also expected to battle for the scudetto. Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, teams up with Paulo Dybala after Gonzalo Higuian was shipped off to AC Milan, which remains a work-in-progress club entering this season. For Ronaldo, Serie A will be a real test. The striker will face teams with tighter defenses compared to those in La Liga. Nonetheless, expect Ronaldo, who completed a €100 million move to Turin from Real Madrid earlier this summer, to put on a show this season as he has appeared re-energized after this summer’s World Cup and in preseason training with the Bianconeri. Juventus, who spent a part of preseason in the United States, came together as a squad for the first time just a week ago. Manager Massimiliano Allegri put the start of the season in perspective. In an interview with Sky Italia, Allegri said: “This year, our ambition to win the Champions League is greater than in previous years, as is the desire to win the league, Coppa Italia and SuperCup, but nobody is going to gift us anything before we’ve won them.” Chievo, meanwhile, already played a competitive match after defeating Pescara this past Sunday in the third-round of the Coppa Italia. Chievo survived a tumultuous summer in which the club risked being relegated due to allegations of false-accounting practices and showing fake profits on their balance sheets. The Flying Donkeys, who finished in 13th place last season and just five points above the relegation zone, was eventually ordered to remain in the top flight after the allegations were tossed because of a legal technicality. The Serie A match between Chievo and Juventus will be broadcast live on ESPN+, which you can access with your cable or satellite subscriptions, either online or through the ESPN app. Date: Saturday, Aug. 18 Start time: 12 p.m. ET Location: Verona, Italy Stadium: Bentegodi Stadium TV Info: No live coverage Live Stream: ESPN+ | Fubo.TV. Sign up for a free seven-day trial here. Juventus defeated Chievo in both meetings during league play last season, downing the Verona-based club 3-0 in Turin and 2-0 on the road. Juve hold a 22-7-1 all-time Serie A record against Chievo.<doc-sep>Juventus will be glad to head home with a win in their season opener. Juventus fell into a lull during today’s game that we have seen many times in recent years. They completely dominated possession, controlling 80% in the first half and 73% for the game. However, they were unable to turn into scoring opportunities for much of the game. Juve didn’t really look threatening at all from open play for most of the game. Their first goal was the result of a beautiful free kick delivery from Miralem Pjanic, followed by Giorgio Chiellini’s header that knocked the ball down to Sami Khedira. The second came as the result of a perfect corner from Federico Bernardeschi that resulted in an own goal from Mattia Bani. It wasn’t until Juventus was desperate to score that they really turned up the heat. Late on Ronaldo had a curling effort denied by a nice save from Stefano Sorrentino, Mandzukic had a goal disallowed because of a foul that knocked Sorrentino out cold, and Juve finally created a goal from open play when Bernardeschi turned Alex Sandro’s cross into the net. They created more chances in that last 20 minutes than in the first 75. Juve will need to start creating chances earlier in the game because looked very vulnerable defensively today. The defensive showing today showcased an issue I’ve had with Juve since last season. Playing a 4-2-3-1 instead of a formation with a 3-man midfield leaves Juve vulnerable at the back. With Pjanic, Khedira, Sandro, and Cancelo all roaming forward when Juve is attacking there is no cover for Chiellini and Bonucci. It leaves Juve too open to the counter and if Chievo can take advantage Juve got the win, but it wasn’t nearly as clear cut as fans would hope. The team’s performance will likely be viewed as disappointing, but how did the players look? GK: Wojciech Szczesny 5/10 Wojciech Szczesny’s contribution to the game today basically came to his presence. He was there. He faced two shots on goal and they both scored. He lost the penalty guessing game on one and looked like he got his feet mixed up on the second. I’m not sure he could’ve done anything to stop the goal anyway. All in all, two shots that should’ve scored did and no saves were made. Szczesny was the definition of average today.<doc-sep>I always struggle with what to say for a season-opening match preview because it’s pretty much the same kind of message as we’ve been talking about for weeks now. You’re excited to see Juventus. It’s been that way since June. You’re excited to see Cristiano Ronaldo. It’s been that way since the day he signed in July. You might even be excited to see Leonardo Bonucci in a Juventus jersey again, but that’s a little more of a complicated matter than the other two. Juventus heading to Verona to play Chievo on Saturday is the donning of a new era for Max Allegri, Ronaldo and the club as a whole. Unless they play like crap, and then we’ll be sitting around saying “At least it’s only August!” while also probably cussing in our comment section. It’s not just the opening game of the new season. It’s the first game in a season that has absolutely insane aspirations, with Serie A dominance for another season simply not being enough to fulfill things knowing who was signed and how much money was spent by the front office the last two months or so. Juventus won’t be expected to just win more than ever before, but the fact that they’ve got one of the best goal scorers to ever play their game now on their roster means games like these against potential relegation battlers will be expected to be runaways, not grinders like they were a season ago. The expectations with Ronaldo now here are through the roof. We’ve seen this roster change in more ways than simply Ronaldo. The starting lineup that Juventus will roll out on Saturday against Chievo at the Bentegodi could very well feature four brand new signings, meaning nearly half of their outfield players are brand new. (Well, except for one guy who isn’t so brand new.) No matter who plays, Saturday is the donning of a new day, a new season, a new era. The feelings of Claudio Marchisio’s unexpected departure will likely still be there — they most certainly are as I write this — but a new season is upon us now. This is the era of Juventus with Cristiano Ronaldo, and it’s time to add the first pages to it. GOOD NEWS When we last saw Cristiano Ronaldo playing a competitive game that Juventus was involved in, he was scoring goals and doing insane overhead kicks at the same time. This time, he will be wearing Juventus colors. Seriously. BAD NEWS Juventus’ No. 8 from the past decade is no longer their No. 8 at the start of this new season. It makes me sad. THREE KEYS 1) Juventus’ new No. 7. It doesn’t matter where you’re watching the game. Every single set of eyes that is watching Juventus will be watching Ronaldo with as much attention to detail as they’ve done in any season opener in years. He is the main attraction. He is the reason why we’re here. He is the reason why a pretty meh opponent for a season opener is getting as much hype as it is. For the past four years under Allegri we’ve seen him slow-play big signings into the starting lineup. The only reason why Ronaldo gets that same treatment is if he somehow hits the factory reset button like you have on your cell phone and suddenly forgets every single thing he knows about this game. That’s the long way of saying this: If Ronaldo isn’t starting then there’s something physically wrong with him. Luckily, Allegri has confirmed that Ronaldo will start — which should surprise absolutely nobody based on the fact that Juve’s new No. 7 is the main event, the main attraction. We don’t know what formation Allegri will use or how, exactly, Ronaldo will be deployed. We do know, though, that Ronaldo is going to be the focal point of a Juventus attack that has plenty of talent around him. And when it comes to adding that name to an attack that led Serie A in goals last season, that’s just a scary thought for opposing defenses. Yes, no matter what Chievo’s manager says about making Juve and Ronaldo himself sweat. 2) Juventus’ new-but-kinda-old No. 19 We can talk about all of the happenings of the past 12 months another time. But, for now, I just want to say this: Juventus is very much a different team compared to the last time Leonardo Bonucci wore bianconero in a competitive game. A lot has happened between then and now, obviously, but the fact that Bonucci is actually back and about to start Juventus’ season opener — yes, Allegri said so — is something that NOBODY could have predicted at the start of July. But here we are. Bonucci will be under the microscope for a variety of reasons, the biggest based on the fact that he was so crucial for Juventus before, dipped out last summer and then essentially demanded that he come back to where the grass was obviously greener. But he will also be under the microscope because, frankly, his performances at Milan a season ago weren’t all that great as a collective whole. Essentially, there will be pressure to perform because of how everything has gone down, but there’s also pressure to perform because he will be out to prove the notion of his form taking a dive was more of a fluke rather than the norm as he goes on in his 30s. I don’t doubt that not having to be The Guy in the center of a team’s defense anymore will help Bonucci out. That’s for the guy who he will be starting alongside and the new captain for this Juventus ship, Giorgio Chiellini. But the opener against Chievo will be Bonucci’s first chance to mend some fences with those who will be filling up Allianz Stadium one week from now. Let’s just hope it doesn’t look like the last time Bonucci played in a season opener. (Hint: His Milan debut was not great!) 3) Juventus’ midfield not named Miralem Pjanic. As those of us in the United States watched Juve play the MLS All-Stars, we had the fact that the signing Bonucci was going to help Pjanic and the midfield out hammered into our head. (Thanks for that, by the way.) We know that Pjanic is going to start because, well, why the hell wouldn’t he. But what we don’t know is what formation Allegri is going to go with — 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 seem to be the favorites right now — and who is going to be playing alongside Pjanic. It could be Sami Khedira. It could be Emre Can. It probably won’t be Blaise Matuidi since he’s just returned from his post-World Cup holiday a week or so ago. It could be Federico Bernardeschi in a new-look mezzala role that Allegri has been experimenting with this summer. I guess the most unfortunate part of it all is that we know Claudio Marchisio won’t be amongst those options ever again. And that makes me sad. No matter who is in the midfield with Pjanic more often than not, we know that if Juve’s midfield struggles like it did a season ago, then these new and ambitious goals for European supremacy will be that much harder to obtain. And while one game against Chievo won’t be the be-all. end-all in this topic, it sure would be nice to not be like “Oh, there’s another no-show from Juve’s midfield...” as the second half goes along Saturday. MATCH INFO When: Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018 Where: Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi, Verona, Italy Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 12 p.m. on the East Coast; 9 a.m. on the West Coast HOW TO WATCH Television: Rai Italia America (United States); RAI Italia America (Canada); Eleven Sports 1 UK (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 1, Sky Sport Serie A, Sky Supercalcio HD (Italy) Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); SKY Go Italia (Italy)<doc-sep>
The last 30 hours or so have been pretty much the opposite of a low-key lead-in to what is certainly about as highly anticipated of a season opener as Juventus have had in quite a long time. There was supposed to be no drama on the final day of the Serie A summer transfer window or anything close to it. It was supposed to be quiet, with Juve’s major business dealings done weeks ago and our only concern was what Max Allegri’s starting lineup was going to look like. Then, just before 10 a.m. in Italy, Claudio Marchisio was no longer a Juventus player. The Marchisio exit still stings as Juventus faces Chievo in this evening’s 2018-19 Serie A season opener. But, there is a debut that everybody has been waiting for — that of a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, the player that has been brought in to try and bring the seven-time defending Italian champions to the kind of heights they haven’t gotten to in decades. The Bentegodi isn’t the glamorous place for as publicized of a debut as Juventus has seen in quite some time. Ronaldo, at 33 years of age, is still at the peak of his powers, a player that has evolved as he’s gotten older and become an even more ruthless finisher in front of goal than he has before turning 30. This day is going to be all about Ronaldo, and understandably so. This day will also be about a new Juventus, one that has Ronaldo on its roster, Marchisio no longer on its roster and Giorgio Chiellini as its captain while patrolling the center of his team’s defense alongside the recently-returned Leonardo Bonucci. This summer has been one that has seen things take place that we never thought would happen — from Ronaldo coming to Turin, Bonucci coming back to Turin and Marchisio leaving a club that he’d spent 25 years at. Nobody could have predicted much of anything that took place outside of maybe Stefano Sturaro rolling out of town on some kind of transfer and Mario Mandzukic being grumpy upon taking pictures with some of his friends. Welcome to the New Juventus. It kinda looks like the Old Juventus with some familiar names, but other familiar faces have gone elsewhere. There are new players to watch, new names to root for. Round 1 of 38 is here. Now go out and win 8-0 or else Juventus Twitter will be burning ish down. MATCH INFO When: Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018 Where: Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi, Verona, Italy Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 12 p.m. on the East Coast; 9 a.m. on the West Coast STARTING LINEUPS Juventus starting XI (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Cancelo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Khedira, Pjanic; Cuadrado, Dybala, Douglas Costa; Ronaldo Juventus bench: Perin, Pinsoglio, Benatia, Matuidi, Barzagli, Mandzukic, Emre Can, Rugani, Bentancur, Bernardeschi Chievo starting XI (4-3-3): Sorrentino; Cacciatore, Bani, Rossettini, Tomovic; Hetemaj, Radovanovic, Rigoni; Giaccherini, Depaoli, Stepinski HOW TO WATCH Television: Rai Italia America (United States); RAI Italia America (Canada); Eleven Sports 1 UK (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 1, Sky Sport Serie A, Sky Supercalcio HD (Italy) Online/mobile: ESPN+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); SKY Go Italia (Italy) Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below. And don’t forget to like our page on Facebook, either!