Juventus and Inter Milan combined 11: 2019 squad d’Italia

ST: Cristiano Ronaldo

If there was one player everybody expected to see on this list when they opened the article, it’s Cristiano Ronaldo. It seems almost unnecessary to once again list all of the reasons he gets this spot, but I’ll name a few before moving on to more interesting selections. He is the 6th highest scoring player of all time, has scored the most goals ever in the Champions League, he won the Ballon d’or 5 times, has won the Golden Boot in 2 different leagues, scored the 4th most goals and  provided the 5th most assists in Serie A last year, and has already registered 4 goals and an assist for Juve this season. Simply enough, Ronaldo was always going to get a spot in this 11.

ST: Romelu Lukaku

The second striker spot in this squad was a much more interesting debate than whether or not to

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include Ronaldo. There were 4 options for the spot and every single one of them was a disappointment last year who has turned things around this season. Lautaro Martinez was thrust into a featured role last year because of Inter’s Mauro Icardi problem, but he failed to deliver in his first season with the club. This year he has already registered a goal and an assist in the league while looking like the dangerous player Inter was hoping he would develop into. He also scored a very impressive goal against Barcelona on Wednesday. Paulo Dybala spent all of last year playing out of position and looked lost on the right wing. This year he has gotten to play in a front 2 again and has once again looked like the dynamic player who scored 22 goal for Juve 2 seasons ago. Gonzalo Higuain had disastrous loan spells at AC Milan and Chelsea last year, but has already scored in impressive fashion in both Serie A and the Champions League this year, assisted a Champions League goal, and should probably have a couple of assists in Serie A if it weren’t for poor finishing from teammates.

However, it will be Romelu Lukaku who gets this spot for one simple reason. Even in his disappointing season, he still managed to score 12 league goals and is on pace to beat that number by quite a bit this year. He has already scored 3 goals for Inter this year and has begun to look more like the player he was at Everton than the player Mourinho wasted at Manchester United. The combination of these 2 former Red Devils up front would strike fear in the heart of just about any defense.

Manager: Antonio Conte

He may be a traitor for joining Inter in spite of his history at Juventus, but there is no denying that Antonio Conte is a damn good manager. He took over Juve when they were still struggling to recover from Calciopoli and began the process of turning them into the juggernaut they are now, winning 3 Scudetti in the process. Then he took over Italy and turned them into a strong defensive team that overachieved at Euro 2016. From there he went to Chelsea and won the Premier League in his first season and now he has Inter sitting atop the Serie A table and looking like the biggest threat to Juve we have seen in a long time. Maurizio Sarri is a fine manager, but he simply can’t match the success Antonio Conte has had in the last decade. That could start to change this season now that he won’t have Juventus standing in his way like he did during his entire time at Napoli, but for now, Antonio Conte is the clear choice to manage this squad.