The penultimate game on Saturday’s Serie A schedule pits top-four hopefuls Juventus against bottom-half Bologna at the Allianz Stadium. Both sides are lagging behind their seasonal goals, yet with five matchdays left this Serie A season, there is still some faint hope in both camps.
A fightback victory away to relegation-battling Cagliari last time out served to get Juventus back to winning ways following a 1-0 derby defeat to Inter. However, after the Nerazzurri and Milan both won their Serie A fixtures on Friday, the record-time Italian champions look on the verge of missing out on the Scudetto.
Meanwhile, Bologna have gone unbeaten in both league matches after March’s international break (W1, D1), including a 2-0 home win over fellow bottom-half rivals Sampdoria last time out. The other game saw Sinisa Mihajlovic’s side hold table-topping Milan to a scoreless draw at the San Siro, showing they still have plenty of fighting spirit left in them.
Match Preview
Juventus
Juventus head into proceedings holding a five-point lead on fifth-placed Roma as another top-four Serie A finish looks inevitable. But there is no room for complacency yet.
The abovementioned loss to Inter all but ruled Massimiliano Allegri’s team out of the title race. However, it marked only their first reverse in 11 home outings across all competitions (W8, D2), showing Allegri knows in-depth about building a fortress. Bologna’s visit to Turin will likely solidify that hypothesis.
Indeed, Juventus have won each of their last eight Serie A home meetings with the Rossoblu, scoring 2+ in every victory. Home and away, the Bianconeri have racked up an eye-catching 11-game H2H winning streak, netting a staggering 26 goals in that sequence, at an average of 2.36 per match.
Against this backdrop, Juventus have bagged just 49 goals after 32 rounds this Serie A season, fewer than any side from the upper half of the table.
It will be up to Dusan Vlahovic to help his side improve their paltry scoring record as the Serb seeks his first-ever Capocannoniere award. He currently trails Ciro Immobile, who tops the Serie A scoring leaderboard with 24 goals by two.
Bologna
Bologna ended their frustrating run of five Serie A matches without winning (D3, L2) by beating Sampdoria last time out. Unfortunately, 10th-placed Hellas Verona are already eight points clear, putting their second top-half finish in nine years out of reach.
The Rossoblu could win back-to-back Serie A games for the first calendar year, and their rock-solid defensive showings of late could come in handy. Mihajlovic’s men have registered three clean sheets across their last five league outings, conceding precisely one goal apiece in the remaining two.
Indeed, last week’s shutout of Sampdoria marked Bologna’s 11th clean sheet at this stage of a Serie A season for the first time since 2010/11. That’s already six more than they had in the entirety of the 2020/21 campaign. However, a lack of scoring prowess remains the elephant in the room.
Bologna have drawn a blank in three of their last six Serie A matches away from home, netting precisely once per game across the other three. Overall this season, only two sides currently outside the relegation zone have scored fewer goals than the Rossoblu (34).
Juventus vs Bologna Team News
Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie remain out of action due to injury, yet Arthur should be ready to start in the midfield despite suffering a sprained ankle. But long-term absentees Kaio Jorge and Federico Chiesa are still on the sidelines nursing injuries.
Wing-back Lorenzo De Silvestri and midfielder Kingsley Michael will not travel with the remainder of the Bologna squad to Turin due to injuries. However, the line-up that defeated Sampdoria last time out will be available for selection.
Juventus Potential Starting XI (4-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Danilo, Matthijs de Ligt, Giorgio Chiellini, Luca Pellegrini; Juan Cuadrado, Denis Zakaria, Arthur, Adrien Rabiot; Alvaro Morata, Dusan Vlahovic.
Bologna Potential Starting XI (3-5-2): Lucasz Skorupski; Adama Soumaoro, Gary Medel, Arthur Theate; Aaron Hickey, Jerdy Schouten, Mattias Svanberg, Michel Aebischer, Mitchell Dijks; Musa Barrow, Marko Arnautovic.