Playing for 90
Fansided

Predicted Juventus lineup vs Valencia: Ronaldo seeks revenge

By John Vaccaro

ALLIANZ STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY - 2018/11/24: Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus FC celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A football match between Juventus FC and SPAL. Juventus FC won 2-0 over SPAL. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
ALLIANZ STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY - 2018/11/24: Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus FC celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Serie A football match between Juventus FC and SPAL. Juventus FC won 2-0 over SPAL. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
TURIN, ITALY – AUGUST 25: Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus competes for the ball with Ciro Immobile of SS Lazio during the serie A match between Juventus and SS Lazio on August 25, 2018 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – AUGUST 25: Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus competes for the ball with Ciro Immobile of SS Lazio during the serie A match between Juventus and SS Lazio on August 25, 2018 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /

CB: Giorgio Chiellini

Juve’s captain will once again start in the Champions League. Even at 34 years old Giorgio Chiellini has continued to play at a high level. He made an unbelievable 9 clearances against Valencia that helped Juve maintain their clean sheet in the first match. Chiellini has been a huge part of Juve maintaining the best defense in Serie A and why they have only allowed a goal in one of their 4 Champions League matchups. He has been able to make up for a lot of Leonardo Bonucci’s defensive lapses and has kept the defense organized in front of Szczesny. He’ll be tasked with shutting down Valencia’s strikers and it’s a job he should be ready for.

CB: Medhi Benatia

Leonardo Bonucci has gotten the starts in most of Juve’s big matches this season, but that trend stopped against AC Milan before the international break. Medhi Benatia was given the start in that match after outperforming Bonucci for much of the season. Benatia was great for Juventus last season, but Bonucci’s arrival pushed him to the bench. He has absolutely earned a return to the starting lineup in Juve’s biggest matches. He showed that once again in the match against AC Milan. He led the team with 5 interceptions and 5 clearances in that match. It was another in a long line of impressive performances at Juventus. It has become abundantly clear that Benatia is the right choice for these matches and hopefully he will be started in enough of them to get him to stick around in January.

Home/Serie A