
Atalanta vs. Juventus: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info
For the third time in as many matches, Sunday will see Juventus taking on a team clad in blue and black stripes as they return to Serie A action to face Atalanta at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia.
Before doing so, coach Massimiliano Allegri’s men must recover from their arduous Coppa Italia semi-final with Inter, a tie that somehow went to extra time and penalties despite the Bianconeri holding a 3-0 advantage from the first leg.
Hopefully the Juve boss will learn from his tactical mistakes in that clash—a matter discussed at length in this previous post—as a number of regulars return to the starting XI. Indeed, that aforementioned cushion allowed the likes of Gigi Buffon, Sami Khedira and Paulo Dybala to all be rested, but the trio are almost certain to start against Atalanta.
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While delighted to reach the final, Andrea Barzagli hopes their struggles act as a wake-up call in forthcoming matches, as he told JTV. “We’re delighted to have progressed,” he said, per the club’s official website, “but let’s hope we learn from our performance tonight and use it as inspiration for the rest of the campaign.”
Their bid to retain the league title for a fifth-successive season was given a further boost earlier in the week, after Fiorentina held closest rivals Napoli to a draw and helped to extend Juve’s lead at the top of the table to three points.
For their part, Atalanta will head into this encounter having not tasted victory since their December 6 win over Palermo, and with losses in each of their last six home games against Juventus. The Old Lady has outscored them by 18 goals to four in those clashes, a record she will undoubtedly hope to continue.

Date: Sunday, March 6, 2016
Time: 2 p.m. GMT/9 a.m. ET
Venue: Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, Bergamo
TV Info: BT Sport 2 (UK), beIN Sports 1 (USA)
Live Stream: BT Connect (UK)
Form Lines
Last five domestic results:
| Hellas Verona 2-1 Atalanta | Juventus 1-0 Genoa |
| Atalanta 0-0 Empoli | Frosinone 0-2 Juventus |
| Sampdoria 0-0 Atalanta | Juventus 1-0 Napoli |
| Atalanta 2-3 Fiorentina | Bologna 0-0 Juventus |
| Carpi 1-1 Atalanta | Juventus 2-0 Inter |
Probable Formations

Atalanta: (4-3-3): Marco Sportiello; Gianpaolo Bellini, Andrea Masiello, Gabriel Paletta, Boukary Drame; Luca Cigarini, Marten De Roon, Jasmin Kurtic; Alessandro Diamanti, Mauricio Panilla, Marco D’ Alessandro
Unavailable: Carlos Carmona, Alejandro Gomez, Rafael Toloi, Cristian Raimondi (all injured)
Juventus (3-5-2): Gigi Buffon; Daniele Rugani, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli; Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sami Khedira, Claudio Marchisio, Paul Pogba, Alex Sandro; Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala
Unavailable: Martin Caceres and Giorgio Chiellini (both injured)
Player to Watch

If Juventus have one man to thank for their two victories in the last seven days, it is undoubtedly Leonardo Bonucci to whom they should turn. The defender not only broke the deadlock in their Serie A clash with Inter, but he then also netted the winning penalty in the Coppa Italia clash with his former club.
While such attacking impetus is not usually his forte, the 28-year-old took both strikes superbly and only added to his increasingly high profile. Following his performance against Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola called Bonucci “one of my all-time favourite players” at his post-match press conference, and it is easy to see why.
According to statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, the Viterbo-native has averaged 0.9 tackles, 2.6 interceptions and 4.2 clearances per game this season, also completing an impressive 88.2 per cent of his 64.2 pass attempts per outing.
Sadly, a yellow card on Wednesday means Bonucci will now miss the cup final against Milan in May, but he will almost certainly look to control proceedings at the back for the Bianconeri when the match with Atalanta gets underway.
Key Battle

One of the few players to perform well in both those recent matches against Inter was full-back Alex Sandro. The Brazilian was diligent in defence and contributed to the attack as he has all season, slowly establishing himself as a valuable addition the Juventus squad following his summer move from Porto.
In doing so, he has also given Allegri much food for thought, providing a viable alternative to Patrice Evra on the left flank while the Frenchman continues to turn in consistently excellent displays.
It is a fine problem for the Juve boss to have, a level of depth enjoyed by few of his peers, and Sandro’s impact has been felt in a number of key matches. Weighing in with two goals and four assists, he created match-winning strikes against Torino, Milan and Manchester City earlier in the campaign.
On Sunday he will go head-to-head with Alessandro Diamanti, a player who has yet to score since returning on loan from Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande back in January. Having also struggled to break into the team at Watford earlier in the season, the 32-year-old will need to be at his best to beat Sandro here.

Odds (via Odds Shark)
Away win: 25-52
Home win: 6-1
Draw: 16-5






