Predicted Juventus lineup vs AC Milan: Italian football returns with Coppa Italia Semifinal

LB: Alex Sandro

This selection shouldn’t meet much resistance as Alex Sandro is still clearly Juve’s best left back and there is just about no chance that Mattia De Sciglio is going to get this start. I still think that Sandro needs to begin showing more aggression on the attacking end, but even his lack of contribution on that end for most of the season isn’t enough for him to come close to losing this spot. Hopefully, he finds that attacking ability again down the stretch, but this spot is locked up even if he doesn’t.

CB: Leonardo Bonucci

The most pleasant surprise of the season for Juventus has been a return to form from Leonardo Bonucci. He was pretty terrible last season and I was ready for hi moo be replaced, but he has absolutely turned this around this year. Not only has he been reliable on the defensive end in Giorgio Chiellini‘s absence, but he also returned to a leadership role when Juve needed it most. I have been extremely impressed by Bonucci’s resilience this year and I expect to see him remain in the starting lineup even with Chiellini healthy.

CB: Matthijs de Ligt

This center back decision was a little bit tougher to make. Juve is going to have a tough time choosing between Chiellini and Matthijs de Ligt for the rest of the season and I think that it will mostly come down to the form of each player to determine who starts.

However, in this match, I think it all just comes down to not wanting to risk Chiellini’s health in a Coppa Italia match. He hadn’t been back for long when play stopped and Juve probably doesn’t want to rush him into full action coming out of this break.

That should give de Ligt a few opportunities to prove that he is the right choice to keep this spot while Chiellini makes second-half substitute appearances to get his legs back under him. Regardless of which player starts any given match, Juve’s defence is in good hands.

RB: Juan Cuadrado

I never expected to be sitting here in June picking Juan Cuadrado to start at right-back for Juventus. It just seems like such a crazy idea that not only would Danilo play badly enough to require Cuadrado to start, but that Cuadrado would be playing well enough for this to seem like a good idea. It was just last season that Cuadrado looked like a complete liability when asked to fill this role. This year certainly hasn’t been without its hiccups, but Cuadrado has gotten the job done against Italian opposition and I expect that to remain true on Friday.