Juventus vs Bologna

Allianz Stadium is the venue as Juventus and Bologna face each other in contrasting Serie A circumstances.

Despite all the off-field troubles and an underwhelming summer transfer window, Juventus couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the new season, putting three unanswered first-half goals past Udinese in an emphatic 3-0 win at the Dacia Arena last weekend. Back at the Allianz Stadium, where they blew hot and cold toward the end of the 2022/23 campaign, alternating between winning (4) and not (D2, L2) in their eight previous matches here, all competitions included. Bologna’s visit to Turin should inspire more confidence among the home fans, with Juventus going unbeaten in their last 11 top-flight H2Hs as hosts (W9, D2) since a 2-0 defeat in 2011. It’s needless to say they conceded under 1.5 goals on each occasion.

In the meantime, Bologna’s life without Marko Arnautovic started poorly, as they conceded twice within the first 25 minutes in a 2-0 home defeat to AC Milan on the opening weekend. Manager Thiago Motta will have to find a new talisman to replace the Austrian forward, who was responsible for almost a quarter of Bologna’s 97 Serie A goals during his two years at the club (24). ‘I Rossoblu’ suffered six defeats on seven league visits to face last season’s top-seven sides in 2022/23, including a 3-0 demolition in Turin in October 2022. But if it’s any consolation, after three consecutive league travels without winning (D1, L2), Bologna won two away Serie A matches in a row at the back end of last season.