The first piece of domestic silverware is up for grabs on Sunday evening when Juventus take on Lazio for the Supercoppa Italiana in Saudi Arabia.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Juventus (4-3-1-2): Szczesny; Cuadrado, Bonucci, De Ligt, Alex Sandro; Bentancur, Pjanic, Matuidi; Bernardeschi; Dybala, Ronaldo.
Unavailable: Chiellini, Khedira.
Lazio (3-5-2): Strakosha; Luiz Felipe, Acerbi, Radu; Lazzari, Milinkovic, Leiva, Luis Alberto, Lulic; Correa, Immobile.
Unavailable: Lukaku, Vavro.
KEY STATISTICS
– This will be the 32nd edition of the Supercoppa Italiana, with the reigning Scudetto holders winning this game on 22 of the previous 31 occasions (71%).
– The reigning Scudetto holders have failed to win three of last five Supercoppa games, with two of these matches being decided by penalty shootouts (won by Napoli in 2014 and AC Milan in 2016).
– Juventus will play their 15th match in the competition, which is at least four more than any other team – on the other hand, Lazio are the team with the fourth-most appearances in the final (eight, including Sunday).
– Juventus and Lazio will face each other for the fifth time in the Supercoppa – the most played fixture in the competition.
– In the previous four matches between Juventus and Lazio in this tournment, both sides have won two games each, with 14 goals in total being scored (an average of 3.5 per game).
– Juventus have only failed to score in one of their 14 previous matches in the Supercoppa (-01 v Inter in 2005). Lazio, meanwhile, haven’t found the net in three of their seven games in the competition.
– Lazio have won three of their last six matches against Juventus in all competitions (L3), as many wins as they had in their previous 35 against the Bianconeri (D8 L24).
– Juventus’ Paulo Dybala has scored three goals in this game (all against Lazio), while a goal in this game would see him become the all-time top scorer in the competition, overtaking Alessandro Del Piero, Samuel Eto’o, Andriy Shevchenko and Carlos Tevez (three goals each).
– Should he play in this match, Juventus’ Gianluigi Buffon would become the player with the most appearances in this competition (10), overtaking Dejan Stankovic (nine) – the goalkeeper has won it six times; the joint-most of any player, alongside Stankovic.
– Lazio striker Ciro Immobile has netted two goals in the Supercoppa (both against Juventus in 2017); the joint-most of any player in the club’s history (level with Claudio López).
