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Juventus projected lineup vs SPAL: Juve reshuffles depleted midfield

By John Vaccaro

TURIN, ITALY - NOVEMBER 03: Rodrigo Bentancur of Juventus competes for the ball with Lucas Castro of Cagliari during the Serie A match between Juventus and Cagliari on November 3, 2018 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY - NOVEMBER 03: Rodrigo Bentancur of Juventus competes for the ball with Lucas Castro of Cagliari during the Serie A match between Juventus and Cagliari on November 3, 2018 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /
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MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 11: (L-R) Suso of AC Milan competes for ball with Alex Sandro of juventus during the Serie A match between AC Milan and Juventus at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 11, 2018 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images)
MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 11: (L-R) Suso of AC Milan competes for ball with Alex Sandro of juventus during the Serie A match between AC Milan and Juventus at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 11, 2018 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images) /

LB: Alex Sandro

Alex Sandro was fantastic once again in the match against Milan. His cross early in the match set Mario Mandzukic up perfectly to score the opener for Juve. He was also able to slow Suso down who has been on an absolute tear this season. Suso had been Milan’s best player so far this year, but Sandro completely neutralized him in this match. Sandro has been one of Serie A’s best left back once again this year. He luckily only had to play one match over the international break so Juve won’t need to rest him for this match and he will be a welcome sight with Juve’s current depth issues.

RB: Mattia De Sciglio

Normally Joao Cancelo would get this starting spot, but coming off of two international break matches and with Valencia coming up midweek we will probably see Mattia De Sciglio get the start against SPAL. De Sciglio has been slowly working his way back into the rotation after missing much of the beginning of the season. He hasn’t been spectacular, but he has been a steady enough presence at right back to allow Cancelo the occasional day off. He likely won’t be asked to do much defensively in this match, so this is a pretty low-risk move from Juve.

CB: Giorgio Chiellini

The Juventus captain will once again be called upon to lead the defense. Juve has been pretty careful with Chiellini’s playing time so far this season, but he got to rest for Italy’s match against the USA on Tuesday. That should mean that Juve will be willing to start him for both matches this week as their defense still struggles to find consistency. Chiellini getting the start in this match should help the defense round to form heading into an important Champions League match on Tuesday.

CB: Medhi Benatia

There are a few factors working in Benatia’s favor to get the start for this match. The first is that he was given the start against Milan because Leonardo Bonucci has had some major defensive lapses this season and he played well for most of that match. The second is that Bonucci then played both of Italy’s matches during the international break while Benatia hasn’t played in more than a week.

If Benatia starts then Juve will have both players as options against Valencia on Tuesday, but if Bonucci plays then Juve would likely give him the day off on Tuesday. For all of those reasons, this should be Benatia and I think he will play well enough to claim the starting spot for Tuesday.

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