12 August 2017
Juventus and Lazio meet for the fourth time in the Italian Super Cup on Sunday night at 20.45 CEST in the Stadio Olimpico.
Here's everything to get you fully prepared ahead of kick-off!
SUMMARY OF THE BIANCONERI SUMMER
Juve have claimed some credible victories this summer, notably against Paris Saint-Germain, winning 3-2 in Miami thanks to goals from Gonzalo Higuain and a brace by Claudio Marchisio.
They then followed this up with a win against Serie A rivals Roma on penalties, after ending the 90 minutes all square at 1-1.
The Bianconeri's other two off-season matches saw them edged out by Barcelona in New Jersey by a 2-1 scoreline, and most recently by Tottenham at Wembley (2-0 the final score in London).
Off the field, Juventus have strengthened the squad with some astute acquisitions. Douglas Costa, Wojciech Szczesny, Mattia De Sciglio and Federico Bernardeschi have all joined this summer, while Rodrigo Bentancur has also clocked up his first minutes in black and white since signing in April.
They, along with the rest of the team, will be hoping to secure Juve’s first silverware of the season on Sunday.
OPTIMISM FOR LAZIO
Lazio enjoyed a positive 2016/17 campaign by finishing in fifth place in Serie A to ensure Europa League qualification in what was Simone Inzaghi’s first full season as manager.
Inzaghi can put a lot of last term’s success down to striker, Ciro Immobile. The former Juventus youth product scored 23 goals in the league and 26 in all competitions.
Lazio followed up their more than solid Serie A season in reaching the final of the Coppa Italia, where they were defeated 2-0 by Juventus.
This summer has seen Lazio register some eye-catching results in pre-season, thrashing Auronzo 16-0, defeating Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 in Austria and beating Malaga 1-0 in Spain.
Meanwhile, the Biancocelesti have been relatively active in the transfer window ahead of the coming campaign: Montenegrin Adam Marusic joined the club from Oostende, David Di Gennaro arrived from fellow Serie A side Cagliari. Striker Felipe Caicedo signed from Espanyol and, perhaps their most high-profile summer signing, Brazilian midfielder Lucas Leiva arrived from Liverpool.
PREVIOUS SUPER CUP ENCOUNTERS
Juventus and Lazio have met each other three times in the Italian Super Cup, with Juventus emerging victorious on two occasions.
Lazio’s solitary success came in 1998. Bianconeri legend and vice-president, Pavel Nedved, who was playing for Lazio at the time, gave them a first-half lead. An Alessandro Del Piero penalty three minutes from time looked to have tied things up, but then a goal from Sergio Conceicao in the 94th minute handed the Biancocelesti a 2-1 win at the Stadio Delle Alpi.
In 2013, Juventus put in a dominating display at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, winning 4-0. Goals from Paul Pogba, Giorgio Chiellini, Stephan Lichtsteiner and a debut effort by Carlos Tevez ensured that the cup would be coming to Turin.
The two sides would then meet again two years later in Shanghai: this game was a tighter affair than the previous, but was memorable for not one, but two debut goals. Both Mario Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala netted on their maiden Juventus outings to give La Vecchia Signora a 2-0 win, wrapping up the club's seventh Super Cup.
THE SUPER CUP NUMBERS TO KNOW
- Juventus and Lazio have faced each other a total of 175 times, with Juventus winning 90, Lazio 42, and 43 draws between them.
- This will mark the 13th time that Juventus have played in an Italian Super Cup; the Bianconeri have won on seven occasions.
- Since the Italian Super Cup’s inception, the Scudetto holder has won 21 times out of the 29 matches played.
- Juventus have beaten Lazio in each of the last 10 encounters, scoring 20 goals and conceding only once.
- Since the 2009/10 season Juventus have won 18 of their last 23 meetings with Lazio, making them the team that Juventus have beaten the most in this period.
- Gonzalo Higuain has scored 13 goals in 12 games against Lazio - more than against any other Italian team.
- Paulo Dybala also enjoys a fruitful scoring record against Lazio, netting five in seven since joining Juve in 2015.
- Lazio are also the preferred opposition of Giorgio Chiellini: the defender has scored five goals against them.
