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Predicted Juventus lineup vs AC Milan: Juve seeks solutions in Coppa Italia

By John Vaccaro

TURIN, ITALY - JANUARY 22: Rodrigo Bentancur of Juventus scores the goal of 2-0 during the Coppa Italia Quarter Final match between Juventus and AS Roma at Allianz Stadium on January 22, 2020 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Giorgio Perottino - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY - JANUARY 22: Rodrigo Bentancur of Juventus scores the goal of 2-0 during the Coppa Italia Quarter Final match between Juventus and AS Roma at Allianz Stadium on January 22, 2020 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Giorgio Perottino - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /
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TURIN, ITALY – JANUARY 22: Juventus’ goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saves the ball during the Coppa Italia Quarter Final match between Juventus and AS Roma at Allianz Stadium on January 22, 2020 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Giorgio Perottino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – JANUARY 22: Juventus’ goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon saves the ball during the Coppa Italia Quarter Final match between Juventus and AS Roma at Allianz Stadium on January 22, 2020 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Giorgio Perottino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /

Juventus saw their lead atop the Serie A table disappear over the weekend, but they get a chance to turn things around with a Coppa Italia match against AC Milan.

Their Saturday loss at Verona was a surprising result, but highlighted the issues that they have managed to win in spite of throughout the season. Now they find themselves tied with Inter Milan for 1st in the league and only 1 point ahead of Lazio. However, they now get to turn their attention toward the Coppa Italia semifinal, with their sights set on one of the trophies they didn’t manage to claim last season.

AC Milan has been much improved since the start of the new year and should provide a much tougher test for Juve than the last time these two squads met. They’ve won 5 of their last 7 to get to this point in the Coppa Italia and had themselves up to 8yh place in the league before losing away to Inter Milan over the weekend. A win in this match would be a major help before they have to head to Torino for the second leg of this semifinal.

Juventus has once again added a name to the list of their wounded. Giorgio Chiellini, Sami Khedira, Merih Demiral, and Danilo all remain out and now Douglas Costa has joined them with a muscular injury that will likely keep him out for the rest of the month. Costa’s absence should guarantee they return to the 4-3-1-2 formation they’ve used for most of the season.

GK: Gianluigi Buffon

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve seen Gianluigi Buffon in Juve’s starting lineup, which makes Thursday’s Coppa match a perfect opportunity to get him back on the field. He has been Juve’s keeper in each of their Coppa matches so far this season and has performed well in that role. This also seems like a perfect opportunity to get Szczesny a rest day before the schedule gets tougher at the end of the month. The revived Milan side he’ll have to face should provide him with some challenges, but he hasn’t yet given us any reason to doubt that he still has the ability to take on opponents like this.

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