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Predicted Juventus lineup vs Udinese: Matthijs de Ligt reclaims starting spot in Coppa Italia

By John Vaccaro

Juventus' Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt (L) saves a ball on the goal line during the Italian Serie A football match Atalanta Bergamo vs Juventus on November 23, 2019 at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium in Bergamo. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)
Juventus' Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt (L) saves a ball on the goal line during the Italian Serie A football match Atalanta Bergamo vs Juventus on November 23, 2019 at the Atleti Azzurri d'Italia stadium in Bergamo. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images) /
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TURIN, Nov. 27, 2019 — FC Juventus’ Paulo Dybala Front celebrates his goal during the UEFA Champions League Group D match between FC Juventus and Atletico Madrid in Turin, Italy, Nov. 26, 2019. (Photo by Federico Tardito/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting via Getty Images)
TURIN, Nov. 27, 2019 — FC Juventus’ Paulo Dybala Front celebrates his goal during the UEFA Champions League Group D match between FC Juventus and Atletico Madrid in Turin, Italy, Nov. 26, 2019. (Photo by Federico Tardito/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting via Getty Images) /

CAM: Douglas Costa

Douglas Costa has yet to start a match for Juventus as their trequartista, but I think this will be the match where that changes. Aaron Ramsey has gotten the start in this position for the last two matches, but is notoriously injury prone and has rarely been available to start for Juve, so I don’t

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think they’ll risk him here. Then there’s Federico Bernardeschi, who just hasn’t been good for Juve at all in this position all season long and should probably be examining his options elsewhere. That leaves Costa, who is definitely Juve’s most dynamic player available in this position and at least deserves the opportunity to carve out some playing time for himself. This should be the match where Juve gives him that opportunity so they can protect their regular starter without their being too much actual risk to their success.

ST: Paulo Dybala

Paulo Dybala didn’t register a goal or an assist in Juve’s match against Roma over the weekend, but there wasn’t anybody on the team who had a bigger impact on that match. Dybala sent in the free kick that Merih Demiral used to score the first goal. Then he made a tackle in Roma’s end that led to him drawing a penalty, which set up Juve’s second goal. Dybala has been awesome for Juve this season, even beating out a very impressive Gonzalo Higuain for the start job, and there is no reason not to expect his high level of play to continue.

Next. Keep, sell, or loan: How Juventus should handle their squad this month. dark

ST: Cristiano Ronaldo

What is there left to say about what Cristiano Ronaldo has done since the start of December? He turned an injury and a rough couple of months with Juve into an absolutely dominant stretch. He has scored in his last 6 Serie A appearances (and 7 of 8 appearances overall), scoring 9 Serie A goals in that time, adding an assist, and moving into a tie for second place in the Capocannoniere race. Ronaldo has been absolutely incredible lately and his play has seemed to somewhat uplift a Juve squad that hadn’t been at its best for a while. Part of his run included 2 goals against Udinese, so maybe he can provide a repeat performance just a month later in this match.

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