Bologna vs. Juventus match preview: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch the Serie A

For a club that has already wrapped up Champions League qualification and is still just a few days out from winning their first and only trophy of the 2023-24 season, things have very much not been smooth sailing for Juventus ever since the final whistle sounded at the Coppa Italia final.

The minutes following the Juve winning their first trophy in three years weren’t pretty outside of the players and coaches celebrating together. And certainly the couple of days after lifting the Coppa Italia in Rome was far from anything you would call routine and low key.

Because of all that, Juventus now head into their final two games of the season without much to play for, a caretaker manager who will only be around for the next two weekends before going back to his regular job and still some lingering unease as a result of how Max Allegri was dismissed. Oh, and just for an added measure when Juventus face Bologna on Monday night, the Bianconeri will be lining up against a manager who is the overwhelming favorite — and virtually only candidate as things look — to take over for Allegri in relatively short order.

Then again, because of recent events, Juventus has a new manager for the next couple of games to close out the season. And that guy is the same guy who used to do this in bianconero during a time when some of us were growing up:

One of the most hard-nosed, no-nonsense players Juventus have seen in the last couple of generations of players is now the guy who will be seeing this team across the finish line as their caretaker manager. And it’s pretty amusing that Juve had to wait to announce Paolo Montero as their interim head coach because he first had to serve a one-game suspension due to a red card in the primavera’s season finale over the weekend. That just seems very on brand for Montero and what we know about how he played.

But now Montero is on the sidelines for Juventus for the next nine days to see out the final two games of the season — first the trip to Bologna before hosting Monza in the season finale. Once those two games come to a close and Juve put an end to this season that has gone from very good to very bad over the span of 3 ¹⁄₂ months, the attention will turn over to just how quickly Juventus can finalize their deal to bring Thiago Motta from Bologna to Turin.

So as much as I’ve already said there isn’t much to play for Monday night, there is actually something on the line, though: It’s sole possession of third place in the table heading into the final weekend of the season. And, as Tuttosport notes on its front page on Monday, there’s enough money to be awarded by finishing in third that would cover about half of the projected salary that Juve have offered to Motta.

Plus, there’s simply the unknown of what Montero is going to do from a tactical sense of things. Will he keep things just as Allegri has with the 3-5-2? Will he maybe throw us a surprise or two even though he’s used a 3-4-2-1 in the past? Even though there’s not a whole lot at stake, will this Juventus team play like the pressure is off them following Champions League qualification and the Coppa italia win?

Considering there’s just two games to see things out, who really knows if Montero will do anything other than keep things consistent with the formation and all that.

It sure would be nice if he could win a game or two to wrap up the season because, no matter if Max Allegri is gone or not, Juve are still very much in the midst of one of the worst second halves of a season in quite some time.

TEAM NEWS

• Paolo Montero held his first training session with the senior team on Sunday, but he did not hold a pre-match press conference. That means we aren’t totally sure what he’s thinking regarding his starting lineup against Bologna.
• As far as we know, Mattia De Sciglio is the only player who will miss out due to injury.
• While Juventus have not released their matchday squad as of this being written, it is expected that Nicolo Fagioli will be back with the team in full on Monday, the first official day after his gambling suspension is over with.
• Andrea Cambiaso is the only Juventus player who is one card away from suspension.

JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH

We’ve been talking about the same players for months now.

Many of them haven’t played all that great. Others have had solid or very good seasons on the whole. Others have come on strong over the past few weeks and give you hope that they will be a big-time player during the Euros over the summer.

But there is one guy who we haven’t talked about much over the last nine months — and for very obvious yet still unfortunate reasons — who could make a much-awaited return on Monday night.

Photo by Daniele Badolato - Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images

Nicolo Fagioli last appeared in a game for Juventus on Oct. 1, 2023, a draw with Atlaanta. Less than three weeks later, Fagioli was agreeing to a plea deal in which he received a seven-month suspension for illegal gambling. The time in between the first day and the final day of his suspension on Sunday involved training with the team but also plenty of meetings and speaking engagements to meet the mandatory requirements of his plea deal.

Now, it’s back to the football.

Ah, that must have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

With no Montero press conference before the boys made the trip over to Emilia Romagna, it’s hard to say where Fagioli could fit into things now that he is eligible to play again. But when it comes to him playing, considering the stakes are low and this is the first of two relatively pressure-free games to finish up the season, there’s more than just a little bit of hope that Fagioli can at least get a little bit of playing time before his summer holiday.

Simply stepping out on that field again will feel like a giant step in Fagioli’s rehab process.

And if he gets some minutes, too? That would just be the icing on the cake.

MATCH INFO

When: Monday, May 20, 2024.

Where: Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Bologna, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 8:45 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 7:45 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 2:45 p.m. Eastern time, 11:45 a.m. Pacific time.

HOW TO WATCH

Television: TLN (Canada); TNT Sports 3 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); discovery+, discovery+ app (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy, Sky Go Italia (Italy).

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.