Reigning Serie A champions Juventus will be targeting their third Super Cup in four seasons when they face Lazio in Shanghai on Saturday. Juve completed the domestic double last season, while Lazio were defeated by the Bianconeri in the Coppa Italia final but managed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in seven seasons. Lazio have not beaten Juventus in seven games and lost all three direct meetings last season.
Juventus have been dominating Italian football during the last four seasons and now they are preparing the charge for a fifth consecutive Serie A title. Last season they even managed to play the Champions League final but were defeated by Barcelona. The squad has suffered some major changes this summer, with big names like Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal and Carlos Tevez leaving the club. They were replaced by strong players though: Mario Mandzukic, Sami Khedira and Paulo Dybala. Khedira will be out for a couple of months with a thigh problem though while Alvaro Morata is also injured along with Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli.
Lazio will be playing the second Super Cup in three years to kick off a season in which they will be playing Champions League football if they manage to get through the playoff round. The squad remains mainly unchanged, with Ravel Morrison, Patric, Wesley Hoedt and Ricardo Kishna being the most important arrivals of the summer. Lazio have lost their previous four friendly matches but the good news is that there are no fresh injury concerns.
Probable line-ups:
Juventus: Buffon - Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Rugani, Evra - Pogba, Marchisio, Sturaro - Zaza, Dybala, Mandzukic
Lazio: Marchetti - Basta, De Vrij, Gentiletti, Radu - Biglia, Cataldi, Onazi - Candreva, Anderson, Klose
My prediction: Juventus to win 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Juventus win - 2.10 Draw - 3.30 Lazio win - 3.50
seculla
8 years ago
As a great fan of Juventus, I must say that I'm more than satisfied with how Juventus played in this Super Cup, after those bad friendly games against Dortmund and Marseille. It's even grater for me that "new guys", Dybala and Mandzukic scored in this game.I predict another successful season for Juventus, and why not to...
As a great fan of Juventus, I must say that I'm more than satisfied with how Juventus played in this Super Cup, after those bad friendly games against Dortmund and Marseille. It's even grater for me that "new guys", Dybala and Mandzukic scored in this game.I predict another successful season for Juventus, and why not to play again in the Champions League Final, or even better, to win it. :)
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iDark
8 years ago
Juventus is one of the best team, with a pure quality complectation of the team. They have some stars and some great doing working-hard players, which is be must for every team if they want to succed all over the season or cups. Lazio has improved their game-play after terrible seasons in the last 2 years. This is will...
Juventus is one of the best team, with a pure quality complectation of the team. They have some stars and some great doing working-hard players, which is be must for every team if they want to succed all over the season or cups. Lazio has improved their game-play after terrible seasons in the last 2 years. This is will be strong competition and I think the stranger will win.
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Alexa Alexa 8 years ago
Juventus continues domination in Italy.They are biggest favourites again to win Serie A and Coppa Italia.They have sold best players but ,they have brought in new ones that can replace them correctly.We will see new Juventus this season,but I think they will again be very successful.
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juventino 8 years ago
This was an easy win for Juventus. They played better and deservedly won the trophy. I am happy to see them with some new players and new strategy. They will be very competitive this season in all competitions. On the other side, Lazio need to improve themselves if they want to reach to the Champions league group stage....
This was an easy win for Juventus. They played better and deservedly won the trophy. I am happy to see them with some new players and new strategy. They will be very competitive this season in all competitions. On the other side, Lazio need to improve themselves if they want to reach to the Champions league group stage.
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sharpe
8 years ago
Although this is not a highest value cup (at least for me) it's still a trophy and we can expect a tough game from both sides. Juventus doesn't have a serious competition in Italy in the last 3 or 4 seasons when they had won almost everything so we couldn't expect other than another trophy for them. Still Lazio has their...
Although this is not a highest value cup (at least for me) it's still a trophy and we can expect a tough game from both sides. Juventus doesn't have a serious competition in Italy in the last 3 or 4 seasons when they had won almost everything so we couldn't expect other than another trophy for them. Still Lazio has their chance but will be tough for them I think.
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Savini7 8 years ago
I cant wait to see Juventus whitout Pirlo, arturo vidal and tevez. Now they have Mandzukic in attack but I dont think thah he can replace Tevez.Mandzukic is the same type player as Ljorente. So they need another attacker, someone who is faster then Mandzukic. My prediction 1-0 or 0-0
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