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Predicted Juventus lineup vs Sassuolo: Caceres-Rugani pairing gets another shot

By John Vaccaro

TURIN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 02: Cristiano Ronaldo (R) of Juventus looks on as Gervinho of Parma celebrates with team mates after scoring the equalizing goal (3-3) during the Serie A match between Juventus and Parma Calcio at Allianz Stadium on February 02, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 02: Cristiano Ronaldo (R) of Juventus looks on as Gervinho of Parma celebrates with team mates after scoring the equalizing goal (3-3) during the Serie A match between Juventus and Parma Calcio at Allianz Stadium on February 02, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images) /
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TURIN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 02: Cristiano Ronaldo (R) of Juventus looks on as Gervinho of Parma celebrates with team mates after scoring the equalizing goal (3-3) during the Serie A match between Juventus and Parma Calcio at Allianz Stadium on February 02, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 02: Cristiano Ronaldo (R) of Juventus looks on as Gervinho of Parma celebrates with team mates after scoring the equalizing goal (3-3) during the Serie A match between Juventus and Parma Calcio at Allianz Stadium on February 02, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images) /

A lot has changed since September’s matchup between Juventus and Sassuolo.

The first time these teams met they were the top 2 teams in Serie A and Juventus had yet to drop a point in the league. Now Juventus is in the midst of a major struggle thanks to some poor choices they’ve made over the last 6 months and Sassuolo finds themselves in 11th place, 5 points away from a Europa League spot. Since then each team has also lost a player who started in the first match. During the winter transfer window Juventus sold Medhi Benatia to a team in Qatar while Sassuolo loaned Kevin-Prince Boateng to Barcelona.

Sassuolo has hit a huge rough patch recently. They have only won once in their last 7 matches and that was a home match against 15th place Bologna. During that stretch they have had to face 5 of the top ten teams in the league and things won’t get any easier when Juventus makes 6 of the top 10 in 8 matches.

I’m sure we’re all familiar with Juve’s recent record. They’ve gone 1-1-1 in their last 3 and were lucky to get the one win that they did. The loss knocked them out of the Coppa Italia in the quarterfinal for their worst finish in the tournament in 5 years. The draw was a complete collapse late in the match as they relinquished a 3-1 lead at home against 12th place Parma.

Juventus will remain short-handed as they try to turn things around. Andrea Barzagli returns to the bench in this match, but Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci remain unavailable. Juan Cuadrado is still injured and Douglas Costa and Federico Bernardeschi both picked up injuries against Parma. However, Bernardeschi still may be able to start this match. Paulo Dybala could also be disciplined for leaving the bench early against Parma and lose out on a starting spot. Still, it seems very likely that Juventus will stick with the 4-3-3 in this one.

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