Sports Mole previews Friday’s friendly clash between Nuremberg and Juventus, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Juventus commence their pre-season schedule with a friendly against Nuremberg at the Max-Morlock-Stadion on Friday.
Their German hosts are far deeper into their preparations for 2024-25 and will expect to push the Serie A giants hard in their upcoming fixture.
Match preview
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With Thiago Motta having replaced Massimiliano Allegri in the dugout, Juventus are about to embark on what they hope will be a successful new era.
A Coppa Italia triumph and a year away from Champions League football has whetted the appetite of all concerned, and there is genuine optimism ahead of the new season.
Plenty of work has been conducted in the transfer market, with Michele Di Gregorio, Juan David Cabal, Douglas Luiz and Khephren Thuram being brought into the squad.
The arrivals of the latter two should act as a considerable boost to the engine room, one which is required with Adrien Rabiot having left on a free transfer.
This is the first of four pre-season friendlies for Juventus, the others scheduled to be against Brest, a Juventus Next Gen side and Atletico Madrid.
From Nuremberg’s perspective, they have been playing matches since the beginning of July, giving them a full three weeks more fitness than their upcoming opponents.
Miroslav Klose‘s side are also yet to lose in any of those fixtures, prevailing in all of them aside from a 1-1 draw with 1860 Munich.
Most recently, Nuremberg participated in two 60-minute matches against Blackburn Rovers which were played back-to-back, the 2. Bundesliga outfit emerging victorious by a 2-1 scoreline on each occasion.
This is their final preparation game ahead of the next second-tier campaign getting underway, their first encounter coming away at Karlsruher on August 3.
Nuremberg friendly form:
Team News
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The likes of Wojciech Szczesny, Dean Huijsen, Weston McKennie and Federico Chiesa are among the players missing for Juventus.
However, a 26-player squad has been selected for the trip to Germany, with Thuram potentially being handed an immediate debut.
Youngster Nicolo Savona could earn a start due to the lack of right-backs, while Matias Soule may feature in the final third despite speculation regarding his future.
With the Nuremberg squad being split over the Blackburn double-header, Klose could revert to a starting lineup similar to the one which started against 1860 Munich in the previous game.
Nuremberg possible starting lineup:
Mathenia; Castrop, Flick, Goller, Jander, Jeltsch, Karafiat, Pick, Sevcik, Soares, Tzimas
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Perin; Savona, Gatti, Djalo, Cambiaso; Thuram, Locatelli, Fagioli; Weah, Vlahovic, Soule
We say: Nuremberg 1-2 Juventus
With this being the first game under Motta, Juventus fans may not expect a complete performance. Nevertheless, the visitors could do enough to battle their way to a hard-earned victory over opponents who will have the edge physically.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.