The long awaited Serie A – 118 edition – is ready for a new season full of emotions.
A favorite for the final victory, the Juventus of CR7 remains, but the summer market has strengthened the opposing teams that will try to interrupt the hegemony of the Bianconeri champions of Italy for 8 consecutive years.
There will be no Chievo, Frosinone and Empoli, relegated to Serie B, in their place Brescia and Lecce (respectively first and second-placed Serie B 2018-2019 and back in the top flight after eight and seven seasons of absence) and Verona returning after only one year thanks to the victory of the playoffs.
The most represented regions of this year are Emilia-Romagna with Bologna, Parma, Sassuolo and SPAL and Lombardy with Atalanta, Brescia, Inter and Milan. With two teams each, there are Lazio (Lazio and Rome), Liguria (Genoa and Sampdoria) and Piedmont (Juventus and Turin); with a team there are Campania (Naples), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Udinese), Puglia (Lecce), Sardinia (Cagliari), Tuscany (Fiorentina) and Veneto (Verona). Puglia returns to have at least one team in the top flight after 7 years.
Game schedule and times
The championship will start today, Saturday 24 August 2019 and will end on Sunday 24 May 2020.
There will be 3 midweek shifts (25 September, 30 October 2019 and 22 April 2020) and 5 stops, 4 of which due to the National team’s qualifications for the 2020 Europe scheduled for 8 September, 13 October, 17 November 2019 and 29 March 2020.
After the failed experiment, of the past season, we return to the Christmas break (December 29, 2019). For the first time the League had assumed, based on what already happens in other European championships, the idea of an asymmetrical calendar, but the project was then discarded.
As far as the playing times are concerned, the only difference compared to the past season is the return of the evening competitions at 8.45 pm instead of 8.30 pm. Three advances are therefore expected on Saturday (at 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm and 8:45 pm) with the remaining matches scheduled on Sunday (including a race at 12:30 pm). Finally advances are possible on Fridays and postponements on Mondays, in particular due to the concomitance with the European cups.
ALL THE LIKELY FORMATIONS OF THE FIRST DAY
At the start with Parma vs Juventus, Saturday 24/08 at 18.00
PARMA (4-3-3): Sepe; Laurini, Iacoponi, Alves, Gagliolo; Hernani, Brugman, Barillà; Kulusevski, English, Gervinho. All. Aversa
JUVENTUS (4-3-3): Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Khedira, Pjanic, Rabiot; Douglas Costa, Dybala, Cristiano Ronaldo. Herds Martusciello (replacing Sarri).
Fiorentina vs Napoli is the evening postponement on Saturday 24/08 at 8.45pm
FIORENTINA (4-3-3): Dragowski, Milenkovic, Pezzella, Ranieri, Terzic; Benassi, Badelj, Pulgar; Church, Boateng, Sottil. Montella All.
NAPLES (4-2-3-1): Meret; Di Lorenzo, Manolas, Koulibaly, Mario Rui; Allan, Zielinski; Callejon, Fabian Ruiz, Insigne; Mertens. Ancelotti All
First day all evening with Udinese vs Milan, advance Sunday 24/08 at 18.00
UDINESE (3-5-2): Musso; Opoku, Ekong, Samir; Stryger Larsen, Fofana, Jajalo, Mandragora, Pezzella; De Paul, Lasagna. All. Tudor.
MILAN (4-3-1-2): G. Donnarumma; Calabria, Musacchio, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Borini, Calhanoglu, Paquetà; Suso; Piatek, Castillejo. All. Giampaolo.
Sunday evening full of excitement with all the other matches scheduled at 8.45pm
CAGLIARI (4-3-1-2): Rafael; Pinna, Ceppitelli, Klavan, Pellegrini; Ionita, Nainggolan, Birsa; Castro; Joao Pedro, Pavoletti. Allan Maran.
BRESCIA (4-3-1-2): Joronen; Sabelli, Chancellor, Magnani, Martella; Bisoli, Tonali, Zhmral; Spalek; Donnarumma, Morosini. Allini Corini.
VERONA (3-4-2-1): Silvestri; Rrahmani, Kubulla, Empereur; Faraoni, Henderson, Veloso, Lazovic; Zaccagni, Verre; Pazzini. All Juric.
BOLOGNA (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; Tomiyasu, Danilo, Denswil, Dijks; Poli, Kingsley; Orsolini, Soriano, Sansone; Palacio. All. Tanjga (replacing Mihajlovic).
ROME (4-2-3-1): Lopez; Florenzi, Fazio, Jesus, Kolarov; Pellegrini, Cristante; Under, Zaniolo, Perotti; Dzeko. Fonseca All.
GENOA (3-5-2): Radu; Zapata, Romero, Biraschi; Ghiglione, Lerager, Radovanovic, Schone, Criscito; Kouame, Pinamonti. Andreazzoli.
SAMPDORIA (4-3-1-2): Audero; Bereszynski, Murillo, Colley, Murru; Linetty, Ekdal, Jankto; Ramirez; Quagliarella, Caprari. Herds Di Francesco.
LAZIO (3-5-2): Strakosha; Vavro, Acerbi, Radu; Lazzari, Milinkovic, Parolo, Luis Alberto, Lulic; Correa, Immobile. All. Inzaghi.
SPAL (3-5-2): Berisha; Cionek, Vicari, Felipe; Di Francesco, Murgia, Missiroli, Kurtic, D’Alessandro; Petagna, Moncini. Simple
ATALANTA (3-4-1-2): Gollini; Toloi, Palomino, Masiello; Hateboer, De Roon, Freuler, Gosens; Gomez; Muriel, Zapata. All. Gasperini.
TURIN (3-5-1-1): Sirigu; Izzo, Nkoulou, Bremer; De Silvestri, Meité, Baselli, Rincon, Ansaldi; Berenguer; Zaza. Mazzarri All.
SASSUOLO (4-3-3): Advice; Toljan, Marlon, Ferrari, Rogerio; Traoré, Obiang, Locatelli; Djuricic, Caputo, Boga. All. De Zerbi.
INTER (3-5-2): Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, De Vrij, Skriniar; Candreva, Vecino, Brozovic, Sensi, Asamoah; Lukaku, Martinez. All. Conte.
LECCE (4-3-1-2): Gabriel; Rispoli, Rossettini, Lucioni, Calderoni; Petriccione, Tachtsidis, Majer; Shakov; Falco, Lapadula. All. Liverani.