The always-intense Turin Derby is on Saturday when Torino welcome giants Juventus across town in Serie A action on Paramount+ The Matchday 7 clash sees Torino actually ahead of Juve in the table by a spot. The hosts enter in ninth on eight points, with Juve level in points in 10th but trailing in goal differential. A win for either here would be a big boost towards European spots ahead of the international break.
Torino: It’s been a fairly solid start to the season for Torino at 2-2-2, but their issue rests in front of goal. Nine goals in six games isn’t bad, but it is far from where they will need to be to push the top half of the table. They continue to miss chances they really should put away, resulting in them dropping points when they figured they would take all three. On the other end, the defense is actually one of the strongest statistically in the top half, but they have conceded in back-to-back games after recording consecutive clean sheets. Here, they must stay tight at the back and be cautious when closing down as Juve’s technical ability could cause them some serious trouble.
Juventus: Will Paulo Dybala and/or Alvaro Morata play? Both missed their team’s Champions League match on Wednesday against Chelsea, and if they can’t go against Torino, they could struggle. While both are far from consistent, they are able to create for themselves, get forward quickly and change a game at any moment. If neither is available, some may just consider Torino as the favorites.
The Turin derby is the centerpiece of the Serie A Week 7 and one of the highlights of the European soccer weekend in general. Last season Juventus failed to beat Torino at the Olympic Stadium. Will they be able to do it this time? There are several options to bet on.
Ivan Juric’s team had two draws in a row with the same score of 1-1. In both games, Torino took the lead to concede shortly before the final whistle. First, at home against Lazio, the Maroons lost two points in injury time. Then, it happened away against Venezia with just 10 minutes left.
What bitter losses. However, such failures should be expected in the early stages of Ivan Juric’s coaching Torino. The Croatian specialist offers his players complex robot-like soccer, based on personal pressure and iron discipline. Their lacking concentration at some points is definitely because of not having completely adjusted to this rhythm. At the same time, it’s clear that the Bulls have a bright future ahead. Torino is going to surprise us with positive results several times even in this season. So far, the team has eight points and 9th place in the standings.
The beginning of the season was not the best for Juve. A few defeats and draws for the Bianconeri in the starting rounds have certainly inspired some people who don’t particularly understand who Max Allegri is to jump to conclusions about the Bianconeri crisis, deadlock, and things like that. Juventus has now won three times in a row. While the matches against Spezia and Sampdoria ended with the same score of 3-2, making people question the team, the UEFA Champions League tie against Chelsea – who, by the way, is officially the best team in Europe – cleared everything up.
On Wednesday, fans at the Allianz were treated to a squad very similar to the Juventus that got into the UEFA Champions League final twice and was unbeaten at home. 1-0 – as a result of a classic system with an iron-wall defense and stabbing counterattacks. And it seems that the victory over Chelsea is only the beginning.
Denying the Premier League side a single shot on target throughout their Champions League encounter, Juve were able to nullify all of their expensively-acquired attacking talent by adopting the methods of years gone by. As a result, after two games they have six points and are yet to concede a goal – taking a big step towards qualification for the last 16.
After edging past both Spezia and Sampdoria in recent league outings by the same 3-2 scoreline, the Bianconeri have also rallied to 10th in the table having previously suffering the ignominy of a spell in the relegation zone – unthinkable under Allegri’s former reign.
Since his return to the Juventus dugout, things have certainly not gone smoothly for the ex-Milan manager, but three straight wins presents the opportunity for his team to sign off for the forthcoming international break with victory in an intensely contested local affair.
The Old Lady reigns supreme in derbies, having lost only one of the last 30 Serie A clashes with Torino and kept a clean sheet in 62% of their away meetings since the turn of the century. Not only that, but Juve have also scored on each and every occasion during that period – and at a rate of nearly two per match.
However, their fans will be keen for them to build on the sterling efforts of Matthijs de Ligt, Leonardo Bonucci and their defensive colleagues in midweek, as Juventus have conceded in each of their last 20 Serie A games. Leaking a goal to their old rivals on Saturday would mean equalling the club’s longest run without a clean sheet in the competition – a record set back in 1955.
Event details:
NAME: Torino – Juventus
DATE: 2 Oct 2021
TIME: 16:00 UTC
VENUE: Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy
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