Round 20: Torino vs. Juventus match preview

Today at 10:20 PM

Following a rotten start to 2025, Juventus return to Serie A action and begin an important month of January against a team they're very familiar with.

Every season we talk about a few quirks that are within the Serie A schedule. We are about to arrive at one of the most notable ones following a week off because Juventus couldn't close out AC Milan in the semifinals of the new-look Italian Super Cup and thus headed back home to Italy a little earlier than we thought they would in the 65th minute a week and a half ago.

I say this because Juventus are about to play their 19th game of the 2024-25 season. However, it is not against the one opponent they have yet to face this season. Instead, because of that same Supercoppa in which they didn't win, Juventus' second Derby della Mole against Torino will take place a few days before facing red-hot Atalanta, the one team Thiago Motta has not faced since moving to Turin last summer.

In short, Matchday 20 is happening before Matchday 19, albeit a postponed one.

It's a bit of a mindfuck because we're so used to these things being in a nice, clean order even though Serie A tries to make things difficult on us sometimes.

But, thanks to the Supercoppa, we've got the end of the andata and start of the ritorno flip-flopped and just a few short days between one another for Juventus.

With all that being said, the midway point of the season is very much upon us even though Juve will be playing Torino for a second time this season come Saturday night. We're all of 90 minutes away from 19 games being played and 19 games left to go in Serie A. With that comes the second Derby della Mole of the 2024-25 season, with the proceedings now shifting over from the Allianz Stadium where Juventus claimed a 2-0 win back before the November international break over about 15 minutes away to the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino where Thiago Motta's sqaud will be out to get back on track after recording their first loss to Italian opposition in the Supercoppa.

And, you know, trying to get just their second win since they beat Torino on Nov. 9.

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, my friends. Against Serie A opposition, Juventus have recorded just one win in their last six games, with five draws very much creating a situation in which Motta's squad has seen plenty of separation between themselves and the top of the Serie A table take place.

It was after that first Derby della Mole of this season that Juventus went into the final international break of 2024 in sixth place but just two points behind league-leading Napoli.

A lot has changed in those following two months. Well, other than Juventus' fetish for doing nothing but dropping points and racking up draws domestically. But as the talk of all those draws costing them the top four only continues to intensify even with the Jan. 3 loss to Milan not counting in the Serie A standings, Juventus were handed a little bit of help 24 hours before they took to the Olimpico field: With Lazio's draw against relegation-threatened Como on Friday night, Juventus have the chance to get within a point of the team right in front of them in the standings. And, that is also with Juve having a game in hand thanks to their participation in the Supercoppa.

So, the question becomes if Juventus can, finally, take advantage of somebody in front of them slipping up. And, maybe, if Juve can take advantage of Torino continuing to be on the struggle bus ever since their extremely hot start to the season, with Paolo Vanoli's side recording just two wins since late-September.

We know the month of January will be a big one for Juventus and Motta because of all the challenges that are going to be coming up wherever we look on the schedule both domestically and in Europe. So, after the struggles in Saudi Arabia, it sure would be nice to see Juventus get on track again now that they're back home — and what better way to do it than actually in Turin city limits.

TEAM NEWS

• As was the worry coming out of the Supercoppa loss to Milan, Francisco Conceição will miss the trip to the Stadio Olimpico due to the flexor injury he picked up in pre-game warmups. There's still no sort of timetable for Conceição's return — which is rather important with Atalanta and Milan next up on the schedule.
• The bad news: Conceição won't be the only Juventus starting forward who is out against Torino this weekend, with Dusan Vlahovic unable to shake the muscle injury that forced him to train away from the group much of the past week.
• Manuel Locatelli will miss Saturday's Turin Derby due to yellow card accumulation.
• Who steps in for Locatelli was likely one of the bigger questions when it comes to Motta's stating lineup against Torino before the Vlahovic news. But, as a result, Nico Gonzalez will likely play up front as a false nine and Teun Koopmeiners playing in the hole, meaning most in the Italian media are now tipping Douglas Luiz to get just his third Serie A start.
• The other three injured players are the long-term absences: Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal and Arek Milik, who reportedly suffered an injury setback earlier this month that will likely push his return back a couple of more weeks.
• With the injuries and Locatelli suspension (as well as Danilo being dropped completely from the squad), that could very well mean Motta has just five outfield players available
• Despite the Juventus Next Gen squad being in a much better place compared to when they made the coaching change two months ago, Motta is not expected to call up any youngsters to provide a little extra depth to potentially fill out the bench. The Juve Next Gen play at Catania on Sunday afternoon, thus complicating things a little bit as well.
• One of the first things Motta said at his pre-match press conference? "We know how important this match is," the coach declared.
• Juventus are unbeaten in their last 21 games against Torino in all competitions.

JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH

This was going to be about a certain No. 9 who is very much the topic of many conversations both these days and many days before that.

But, because said No. 9 is out due to a muscle injury, we are just going to keep that number in mind and focus on somebody who hasn't started a game in quite a while and has a grand total of nine Serie A appearances to his name since his high-profile move to Juventus last summer.

See, a little continuity even though we've had to pivot. That's called being creative, folks.

OK, so maybe it's not a surprise that Douglas Luiz is here considering he hasn't started a game in so long. I'm guessing you're wondering when that last start in any competition came, right? Well, because there's been so few of them, I had to do some searching for it.

October. Yep, Oct. 19 against Lazio. That was Matchday 8.

I was still 37 years old the last time Douglas Luiz started a game for Juventus. I am now 38.

To say the Douglas Luiz transfer — and a very expensive one at that — has been a disappointment is, at this point, a pretty solid understatement. Whether the ineffectiveness when he's actually played or the sheer amount of time he has missed due to injury (and the very strict management that has happened because of it), we're now at the midway point of the season with not much good to say about what he's done in a Juventus jersey.

Mostly because he hasn't done much ... and has yet to play all that much, either.

But with Locatelli out and Gonzalez set to fill in for Vlahovic, this is the time that Juventus very much need Douglas Luiz to step into the lineup and just give us a glimpse of the player who was so good at Aston Villa the last few years. I'm guessing the expectations, at least from many of those outside of Continassa, are rather low at this point for Luiz, so it's not like there's a whole lot of runaway if he gives us another stinker.

One thing is clear, though: If Douglas Luiz is staying around this month and not leaving like the random rumors that pop up every couple of days might suggest, then Juventus need to get something out of one of their most expensive summer signings. Something. Anything. Just a whole lot more than the 299 minutes he's played in Juve's first 18 Serie A games this season.

MATCH INFO

When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025.

Where: Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino, Turin, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Fox Sports Deportes (United States); TLN (Canada).

Online/Streaming:Paramount+, fuboTV, foxsports.com, Fox Sports app (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); OneFootball.com (United Kingdom); DAZN Italia, Sky Go Italia (Italy).

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven't already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.