Juventus vs. AC Milan match preview: Time, TV schedule, and how to watch the Italian Super Cup

What do we have in store as Juventus get 2025 underway in Saudi Arabia?

We got a taste of the new-look Italian Super Cup format last season, but that had one very obvious thing missing: Juventus. The first edition of the four-team mini tournament in Saudi Arabia to ring in the new year — which was won by Inter 12 months ago — gave this new format a test run to see just how this whole thing works.

They’ve done the same thing in Spain. Heck, they’ve done the same thing for the women in Serie A before the men when it comes to this kind of four-team setup for the Supercoppa.

With this second edition, Juventus will jump into the fray to get their hands on some silverware less than a week into what is expected to be a chaotic month of January. The other half of this second Supercoppa semifinal matchup on Friday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is an AC Milan squad that is one of the 11 draws Thiago Motta’s squad have recorded through their first 18 Serie A games so far this season. (You’ll never guess what the final score was! Actually, based on how the months of September through November went, you probably can …)

But there’s a very big and important twist on this historic rivalry (even if it is coming in a glorified friendly): Milan, just a few days ago and the morning after their 1-1 draw with Roma, gave Paulo Fonseca the boot after so many weeks of speculation and a total mixed bag of results. As his replacement, Milan hired Sergio Conceição, who last managed Porto this past spring and turned out to be a decision that very much played a big role in one of Juve’s most important players being signed in the summer. (More on the first father-son Conceição Derby later on.)

The winner of Juventus-Milan will face reigning Supercoppa holders — who beat a rather heavily rotated Atalanta 2-0 on Thursday night in the first half of this four-team tournament — in Monday night’s final.

It’s the chance at the first trophy this season, albeit very much the third of three when it comes to power ranking the importance of it when compared to the Coppa Italia and obvious the Scudetto later this year.

Considering when these two teams played their first matchup of the season — back on Nov. 23 coming out of the November international break — and when this Supercoppa semifinal is taking place, it’s pretty clear that the issues that were present then are still present now.

For Juventus, their habit of draws is still very much a constant. The difference now compared to six weeks ago is that the defense is very much not as effective of a collective unit as it was a few months ago (and that’s even after Bremer’s ACL snapped). That, maybe a little ironically, has come at a time in which Juventus are scoring more than they have at points earlier this season. (Although, one could say there was only a way up with all of the scoreless draws Juventus recorded during the first couple of months of the Motta era.)

The reason all of this might coming about outside of the obvious fact of Bremer and his incredibly broad shoulders not being in the lineup for three months now — a complete lack of depth resulting in a big amount of fatigue, individual errors, whatever — the days of Juventus stacking shutouts on top of one another certainly feel like they’re on pause for the time being.

But the mystery in all of this is just what Milan will look like under their new manager as compared to their former one. When Juve and Milan met back in November, it was far from an attacking masterclass — and that’s not just because the final score ended up being 0-0. No matter what number you look at, it was a total wash in terms of effective offensive play. Michele Di Gregorio was only forced to make one save. Milan and Juventus combined for a grand total of 0.71 xG and all of 18 touches in the two penalty areas.

Will it change for the better for Milan under Conceição?

At this point, it’s pretty hard to say either way considering they’ve had less than a week’s worth of training sessions with their new manager and have a host of players — both of the star and role player variety — out injured or not at full fitness. We don’t know what kind of formation they will use considering options up front are limited for Conceição with Rafael Leao out injured and Christian Pulisic only back from a calf injury that has held him out for the last month.

That’s why it makes sense when Motta says his team is “ready for anything.” That’s mainly because you have to be when there is absolutely no film or examples on how Conceição will field this shorthanded Milan team since he took over.

Whether they actually are ready remains to be seen. But at least we know that Juventus’ manager has been on the job for more than four days, so there’s that.