Juventus will be aiming to back up their impressive win in the opening Serie A fixture with another victory when they travel to Genoa to take on Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Monday. The Bianconeri began their 2022/23 Serie A league campaign with a fantastic 3-0 victory over Sassuolo. Meanwhile, Sampdoria suffered a loss at home against Atalanta and will be looking for a way to bounce back.
Given the precedent set recently, Sampdoria have little chances of stopping the juggernaut that is Juventus. The outfit from Genoa have lost each and every one of the last six meetings against the Turin giants in the Italian top flight.
Max Allegri’s side have won by scoring at least two goals in each of the last three matches against Sampdoria at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris. It goes without saying that they will be seeking to reverse that trend and break the jinx during their third successive fixture at home.
Sampdoria did enjoy a moral boosting victory in their first round of the Coppa Italia to begin proceedings in the 2022/23 season. They defeated Reggina 1-0 earlier but Marco Giampaolo’s side slumped to a defeat when the welcomed Atalanta to the Luigi Ferraris Stadium on the opening weekend of the domestic league campaign.
The 2021-22 season had proved to be quite difficult for the hosts as they almost got trapped in a relegation battle. Their start to the current Serie A campaign hasn’t been of note either as they went down 2-0 against La Dea despite showing resilience and putting up a strong fight for much of the contest.
Last season was quite tricky for Sampdoria and we need a different lens to judge it from a completely different perspective. With Giampaolo returning to the side in January for his second spell in charge of the club, they managed to stay up because of other teams failings more than their own achievements during the final stages of the season.
This is best summarised by the fact that in the current calendar year, no Serie A side has lost as many games as Sampdoria who now have 13 defeats from 20 matches to their name following last week’s loss to the side from Bergamo.
Much to their chagrin, Sampdoria haven’t been quite active in the transfer market either, and signings have been in short supply. The hosts have collected just a single point from their first couple of fixtures across the last four years and the order especially stacked against them on Monday when they take on one of the title contenders.
If Sampdoria story is one of eternal struggle, Juventus are trying their best to get back to the Serie A supremacy that they once controlled. In the last few years, the site from Turin have had to witness the clubs from Milan pose a threat and reinvigorate themselves as title contenders and victors at the expense of Juventus. This year, they will be gunning for their first Scudetto title in three years.
Max Allegri’s side finished a dismal fourth in the campaign for the second straight year which just goes to show how far Juventus have fallen from the perch. That ushered in a summer rebuild with the return of former star Paul Pogba whose return has gone sideways as he has been sidelined with a knee injury. Filip Kostic, Gleison Bremer, and Angel Di Maria all made their debut against Sassuola in the Serie A campaign opener last weekend.
Di Maria, especially, arriving on a free from PSG following the expiry of his contract proved to be crucial as the Turin-based outfit rushed to a 3-0 victory at the Allianz Stadium with the Argentina star scoring a sensational volley. He also provided the assist to the winter transfer market’s big-money signing Dusan Vlahovic as the Serbian grabbed a brace of goals to begin his own individual and personal pursuit of the Serie A top-scorer crown by the end of the season.
Going against his own usual instincts, Allegri ended up fielding four players born in the 21st century on the opening day of the match which provided for plenty of youthful charisma, vigour, energy and exuberance on the field. Only the newly-promoted Lecce have more players in that age bracket besides the Binaconeri.
While turning towards youth and trusting them with a long rope seems ironic for a club named the Old Lady of Turin, it will be once again up to the established stars of Juventus to try to register two wins out of two on Monday.
Juventus have done quite splendidly at the Stade Luigi Gerraris in recent years. They have also taken maximum points from their first two matches of the season in eight out of the last 12 years. They have also won the title on each and every single occasion and Allegri will be hoping that the streak remains intact this year as well following a likely victory against Sampdoria on Monday.
SAM vs JUV, Serie A 2022/23
Date: 23rd August, 2022
Time: 12:15 AM IST
Venue: Luigi Ferraris Stadium, Genoa
FORM GUIDE:
Sampdoria Serie A form:
- L
Sampdoria form (all competitions):
- D-W-D-W-L
Juventus Serie A form:
- W
Juventus form (all competitions):
- W-D-L-L-W
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
Sampdoria wins: 85
Draws: 7
Juventus wins: 17
TEAM NEWS:
Sampdoria Team News:
Sampdoria have a fairly fit squad heading into this clash and manager Giampaolo will have plenty of options to choose from. Long term absentee Manolo Gabbiadini has also successfully completed his return from injury and was fit enough to make it to the bench against Atalanta.
35-year-old Francesco Caputo will probably be tasked with leading the line once again and he will be looking to open his account this season in this fixture after scoring 11 goals and registering six assists in the previous Serie A campaign.
Juventus Team News:
While Juventus’ impressive activities in the transfer market have done plenty to renew optimism in Turin, Max Allegri might be handicapped in his attempts to field his best XI due to various reasons.
Angel Di Maria, despite his obviously brilliant flashes in the previous clash, ended up suffering a grave injury and is expected to be out for the month keeping Paul Pogba company in the treatment room. Federico Chiesa continues to suffer from last season and is unlikely to even recover until later this year. First-choice goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has also been sidelined with problems.
However, both Moise Kean and Adrien Rabiot are available once again, having served their respective suspensions.
Allegri could also be without defensive mainstay Leonardo Bonucci on their trip to Genoa and as a result, he may rely upon Daniele Rugani or Federico Gatti to partner new signing Bremer at the heart of the back four.
Filip Kostic is likely to take up a supporting role beside his national teammate Dusan Vlahovic in the absence of Angel Di Maria up front. Vlahovic has already faced Sampdoria three times as a starter in Serie A and has an impressive tally of five goals combined, three of them arriving at the Stade Luigi Ferrrais itself.
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Audero; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Colley, Augello; Vieira; Leris, Rincon, Sabiri, Djuricic; Caputo
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Perin; Danilo, Rugani, Bremer, Sandro; Locatelli, Zakaria, McKennie; Cuadrado, Vlahovic, Kostic
Predictions:
Although some of their top talents, which includes much of their summer new signings, are sidelined with injury, Juventus have more than enough resources in the arsenal to brush off Sampdoria who have already begun the season in deplorable form. The hosts haven’t been able to find their best version in several months now and the Bianconeri would be the favourites to capitalize on that and steal another impressive win to begin their campaign in perfect fashion.
