My friends, we are out to see if recent history could very well end up repeating itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Let me set it all up with this: Three days after Juventus\u2019 wild 4-4 draw against Inter Milan last October, the Bianconeri had a midweek fixture to quickly shift their focus to. It wasn\u2019t against anybody really of note, with a struggling Parma side making their way to the Allianz Stadium for some midweek fun \u2014 or what we thought could be fun considering how much they had not been playing well at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Juventus ended up dropping points, and it turned out to be one of the 100s of draws that the team recorded last season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
So now, we fast forward back to the present time in which Juventus are coming off a wild win over Inter at the weekend. The midweek matchup in which they quickly shift their focus to isn\u2019t against a potential relegation battler. Instead, it\u2019s their Champions League opener against Borussia Dortmund, a team they were playing against in a summertime friendly just a month ago. Tuesday night\u2019s matchup at the Stadium will see Juventus look to keep this early-season success going, with Dortmund being looked at as just as much of a test right out of the gate in Europe as PSV Eindhoven was a year ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
(Of course, we hope this will be the only time Juventus play Dortmund in the Champions League this season if we\u2019re using the PSV thread as a comp for things. Unless it\u2019s in, like, the UCL semifinal or something. Then it\u2019s OK.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As we head into the second year of the Champions League using the league phase format, it\u2019s now more of a common knowledge just how volatile things can be if a result or two don\u2019t go your way. We can all remember just how important the live table became during Juve\u2019s last couple of league phase fixtures considering things were changing so much over the course of the 90 minutes on the field. And even with that big win over PSV to start things out in the league phase last season, it\u2019s not like it ended up being a sign of things to come when the seventh and eighth league phase fixtures arrived and Juve were toward the bottom of clubs who were sent into the play-off round.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If that first experience in the league phase taught us anything, it\u2019s probably this: just try and get into the top eight as much as possible. Avoid the play-off round. Just don\u2019t even risk your entire European future for the season coming down to 180 minutes and added two more games onto an already busy schedule as we approach the late-winter portion of the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Of course, when it comes to Juventus playing Borussia Dortmund, the fact they just played a friendly against one another on Aug. 10 is an interesting subplot to all of this. How much can you take out of it and apply to this matchup? I don\u2019t really know. It\u2019s a friendly in comparison to the first Champions League fixture of the season, which comes with its own unique bit of intensity. So as much as we can say Juventus played well in said friendly \u2014 which they did on top of simply getting the win \u2014 it\u2019s still no match for what they\u2019re set to face Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Dortmund, to their credit, have played fairly well the last couple of weeks after opening their Bundesliga slate with a 3-3 draw against St. Pauli in which they blew a 3-1 lead in the final five minutes. Like Juve, Dortmund currently sit in second place domestically, with \u2014 shocker \u2014 Bayern Munich already setting the pace out front.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Juventus and Dortmund last played a competitive fixture in 2015 when Carlos T\u00e9vez scored that banger of a goal in Germany<\/a> to get the ball rolling and help the Bianconeri continue their march toward the Champions League final.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For Juventus, going from the emotional roller coaster of Saturday\u2019s win over Inter to now ramping it all back up for the Champions League opener is quite the unique situation. The worry, as you might expect, is for some sort of physical and\/or emotional letdown considering what happened just a couple of days ago. But when it comes to how Juve manager Igor Tudor is feeling about things coming out of the victorious weekend in the Derby d\u2019Italia, this is how he\u2019s viewing things as he said during his pre-match press conference on Monday:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI had two main takeaways against Inter. We played against the strongest team in Serie A in terms of squad potential and we won without playing at our best. This second point should make us reflect on our true value and what we could and should have done better. We were also missing some important players for various reasons, including international commitments and injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n (Source: juventus.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Most of those same players who were out injured against Inter will miss the Dortmund fixture, so Tudor will pretty much have the same squad available to him that he did over the weekend. But if he\u2019s feeling like Juventus can beat a good team like Inter and still not be close to their best, then it\u2019s a sign about how he\u2019s feeling regarding his squad\u2019s overall potential. And just like against Inter, facing Dortmund are going to be another good measuring stick to see just where Tudor\u2019s squad is at when it comes to this point of the season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Just like against Inter, we\u2019re about to find some things out about this team. And for the first time this season, we\u2019re going to see what they\u2019re capable of on short rest after an incredibly emotional win, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Coming off a huge win over Inter, there\u2019s a lot of directions we can go with this. The vibes are good, there\u2019s a positive energy coming from this team and obviously you\u2019re going to get a lot of good performers when you start the season with three straight wins and an emotional Derby d\u2019Italia victory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So what about somebody who was a vital player in the late-game comeback? You know, the guy who was just a few feet away from where his older brother scored the go-ahead goal and then celebrated like no other a little over five minutes later when he scored to tie things up? Yeah, that guy. I like that guy. Let\u2019s discuss him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Khephren Thuram is Juventus\u2019 most talented midfielder. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s an argument for somebody else. No offense to Manuel Locatelli, but you look at Thuram and feel like he can only get better from his current form is \u2014 and that\u2019s an enticing thought for the future regarding a player who clearly loves where he\u2019s at. (And so does his fashion icon father, who did a thing or two in Turin during his playing career.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So, with that said, it\u2019s easy to think that Juventus need Thuram at his best if they want to win these big fixtures during the Champions League league phase. So far this season, he\u2019s been rather good, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thuram currently leads Serie A in tackles. He\u2019s got the most successful dribbles on the Juventus roster by somebody not named Kenan Yildiz. His game-tying goal against Inter provided Juventus with the jolt of energy they needed to get the late-game comeback truly going just when it looked like they might not get points.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Plus, he\u2019s just really freakin\u2019 cool.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We are seeing Yildiz take the step up to begin the season. That could very well be the case for Thuram if he continues this way. And there\u2019s no better way to prove that than in a big Champions League fixture in which Juventus need to keep the good times going.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When: <\/strong>Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Where:<\/strong> Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Official kickoff time:<\/strong> 9 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe, 8 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 3 p.m. Eastern time, 2 p.m. Central time, 12 p.m. Pacific time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Television:<\/strong> TUDN USA, UniMas (United States): TLN (Canada); TNT Sports 2 (United Kingdom); Sky Sport 4K (Italy).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Online\/Streaming:<\/strong> Paramount+<\/strong><\/a>, Amazon Prime Video, Univision NOW, TUDN.com, TUDN app (United States); DAZN Canada; Amazon Prime Video (Canada); DAZN UK (United Kingdom); NOW TV (Italy).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other live viewing options can be found here<\/strong><\/a>, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Bluesky<\/strong><\/a>. If you haven\u2019t already, join the community<\/strong><\/a> on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 0 Comments<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n
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