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

By John Vaccaro

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo (7) celebrates after scoring his goal to make it 2-1 during the Serie A football match n.20 JUVENTUS - PARMA on January 19, 2020 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. (Photo by Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo (7) celebrates after scoring his goal to make it 2-1 during the Serie A football match n.20 JUVENTUS - PARMA on January 19, 2020 at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. (Photo by Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
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Rodrigo Bentancur, Juventus (Photo by Giorgio Perottino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /

CM: Blaise Matuidi

I would usually be against the idea of Blaise Matuidi starting a match with Juve’s spot in a competition on the line, but he might actually be worth starting this time around. Juventus doesn’t actually need to score (although it would be really nice to take some pressure off), so his offensive issues wouldn’t matter much. He is also still a strong defensive player at this point in his career, so he would at least be able to help Juventus there. I’m not exactly thrilled with Matuidi being included in the starting lineup over Adrien Rabiot or Miralem Pjanic, but it shouldn’t hurt Juventus in this match.

CM: Rodrigo Bentancur

Could this be a sign of a change coming at Juventus? There have been plenty of rumours floating around about Juventus moving on from Miralem Pjanic after this season and Rodrigo Bentancur taking his spot in the first match back certainly wouldn’t dispel those rumours.

There’s a strong case to be made that Bentancur has actually been Juve’s most reliable midfielder this season as he has stepped up for the squad in every single role they’ve asked him to play this year. Now he’ll get to sit a little bit deeper, which is his preferred position, and dictate Juve’s attack. If he’s successful in this match then Juve will have a very interesting midfield controversy to deal with as the season winds down.

CM: Aaron Ramsey

I’ve seen Sami Khedira in this spot in a few predictions already this week, but I just don’t see how Maurizio Sarri could ever make that decision for this match. Sarri should have every midfield player at his disposal for this match and every single other option is better than Khedira. The player I think should actually get the start is, without a doubt, Aaron Ramsey.

He has been a major positive for Juve when he’s been a part of the midfield 3 and should bolster an attack that hasn’t been great all year and likely isn’t going to be helped by the 3 month break. I really hope Sarri doesn’t get this one wrong because starting Khedira here could be absolutely disastrous while Ramsey could prove to be the difference make for Juve.

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