Juventus v Sampdoria: Probable Line-Ups and Key Statistics
The Andrea Pirlo era gets underway at Juventus on Sunday night when they welcome Sampdoria to Turin for their season opener.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Juventus (3-5-2): Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, Chiellini; Cuadrado, Arthur, McKennie, Ramsey, Pellegrini; Kulusevski, Ronaldo.
Unavailable: Bernardeschi, De Ligt, Dybala, Alex Sandro.
Sampdoria (4-4-2): Audero; Bereszynski, Yoshida, Colley, Augello; Depaoli, Thorsby, Ekdal, Jankto; Bonazzoli, Quagliarella.
Suspended: Askidsen.
Unavailable: Gabbiadini.
KEY STATISTICS
– The last time Juventus and Sampdoria played out a draw in Serie A was back in December 2014 – since then, the Bianconeri have won nine and lost two.
– Juventus have won each of their last five home Serie A matches against Sampdoria, scoring at least two goals in each game (16 goals in the period).
– Juventus and Sampdoria will face each other in the opening game of a Serie A season for the third time – the Blucerchiati won 1-0 in 1982, while the Bianconeri won 1-0 in 2013.
– Juventus have won 66% of their season-opening games in Serie A (57/87); the highest win rate of any team in the competition (min. four games played). They also have the lowest percentage of defeats on the opening day of the season (8% – 7/87).
– Juventus have won their opening game in each of the last four Serie A seasons, the longest current streak of any team in this year’s competition – the last time they won their opening game in five consecutive seasons was in 2007 (a run of seven).
– Sampdoria have lost their opening game in each of the last two Serie A seasons – the last time the Blucerchiati lost three in a row was back in 2006/07.
– Juventus’ Paulo Dybala has scored seven goals against Sampdoria in Serie A (including his first one in the competition, with Palermo in November 2012) – against no other side has he netted more in the Italian top flight.
– Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo hasn’t scored in the opening game in either of his previous two Serie A seasons, however the Portuguese is the top scorer in Serie A in 2020 (21 goals in 19 games played).
– Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in each of his three Serie A matches against Sampdoria for Juventus – among teams he has faced at least four times in his league career, he has never previously scored in 100% of those appearances.
– Sampdoria’s Fabio Quagliarella has scored four goals against Juventus in Serie A with four different teams – the striker played 84 matches (23 goals) with the Bianconeri in the Italian top flight between 2010 and 2014.