In previous years, any number of Juventus’ trips to the Italian capital has come with a decent amount of pressure accompanying them. There’s been Coppa Italia finals, there’s been top-of-the-table clashes be it against Roma or Lazio. There’s been lots of games that, despite Juve’s dominance over Serie A for the last eight years, have pushed the bianconeri to the edge and results far from easy to come by. Basically, the trip to Rome has never been a certainty and, because of that, these games have been important ones regardless of when on the schedule they are. Sure, Roma still has a chance at a Champions League spot. But, now more than ever before this season, they’re going to need some serious help from their friends if they are to go from sixth place to fourth in the next three weeks. Plus, the whole “beat Juventus and hope that the ever-impressive Atalanta train slows down” thing needs to happen, too. There is very much the kind of sense that last weekend’s draw against Genoa was the game that prevented Roma from Still, there’s this game. Juventus-Roma with a cloud hanging over both squads. Some of it because of what has happened on the field the last month or two. The other part, which is the one that the Italian press wants to serve to us on a silver platter with a giant glass of Pinot Grigio or two to top it all off, is the managerial situation revolving around both clubs as they enter the final three weeks of the season. You think they might talk about this during the game? You bet. So there is obviously more to it than just two teams playing against one another for 90 or so minutes. There’s the storylines that have nothing to do with the product that will be put out on the field. And there’s definitely going to be storylines about respective players in each team’s starting lineup because of what the transfer rumor mill is these days. But there’s also the same thing we’ve been saying the last couple of weeks when it comes to Juventus and their next opponent: The team in black and white doesn’t have much to play for at all, while the team they’re facing has plenty riding on the weekend’s fixture. So I guess all we can hope for is something a little better than the last couple of weeks. And, based on his pre-match press conference on Saturday, Max Allegri is in that line, too. Allegri: "Tomorrow will be a great game against Roma. We have to play better because then we will have the celebrations after at home to Atalanta. It will be an evening celebration, which is something different than previous years and will be nice for all to see. "#RomaJuve — JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) May 11, 2019 MATCH INFO When: Sunday, April 12, 2019 Where: Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy Official kickoff time: 8:30 p.m. local time in Italy and across Europe; 7:30 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time; 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time STARTING LINEUPS Juventus starting XI (4-3-3): Szczesny; De Sciglio, Caceres, Chiellini, Spinazzola; Emre Can, Pjanic, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Dybala, Ronaldo Juventus bench: Pinsoglio, Del Favero, Barzagli, Alex Sandro, Cancelo, Bentancur, Pereira da Silva, Kastanos, Nicolussi Caviglia Roma starting XI (4-3-3): Mirante; Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov; Zaniolo, Nzonzi, Lo Pellegrini; Kluivert, Dzeko, El Shaarawy HOW TO WATCH Television: ESPN, ESPN Deportes, RAI Italia America (United States); TLN, RAI Italia America (Canada); Premier Sports 1 (United Kingdom); Sky Calcio 1, Sky Sport Serie A, Sky Supercalcio HD, Sky Sport Uno, Roma TV (Italy) Online/mobile: WatchESPN, ESPN Deportes+ (United States); DAZN (Canada); 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.<doc-sep>How to watch Roma vs. Juventus in Serie A on Sunday, May 12. Roma looks to stay in the hunt for a Champions League berth when hosting recently crowned Serie A champion Juventus. Kickoff from the Stadio Olimpico in Rome is slated for 2:30 p.m. ET. Juventus has slumped since winning its eighth straight title with consecutive draws vs. Inter and Torino. Cristiano Ronaldo remains in the race for the league's golden boot, with his 21 goals trailing Fabio Quagliarella's 25 by four. Roma, meanwhile, enters Sunday sixth in Serie A, level with AC Milan and three points behind Atalanta out of a top-four berth that would send the club back to the Champions League stage. Here's how to watch Sunday's match: Time: 2:30 p.m. ET TV channel: ESPN, ESPN Deportes Live Stream: Watch live on fuboTV. Sign up now for a free seven-day trial. SI TV is also now available on fuboTV. Watch Planet Futbol TV, SI’s soccer show starring Grant Wahl and Luis Miguel Echegaray, weekly on Fubo TV or anytime, anywhere here.<doc-sep>Another week, another dead rubber. Juventus came into their match against Roma on Sunday night with little to play for other than pride — and the chance to get those fugly new uniforms over on fans with a victory. For the hosts, on the other hand, the game had a lot more riding on it. Roma’s shambolic season was winding to a close with their chances at a place in the UEFA Champions League almost up in smoke. Needing three wins and a lot of help to sneak into Serie A’s top four, the Giallorossi emerged from the tunnel in desperation mode. That desperation nearly turned into despair in a first half that saw Juve on the front foot for long stretches. A trio of Antonio Mirante saves that stretched from excellent to insane on the spectrum were all that kept the Old Lady of Italian football from killing the game by the break. But the half ended goalless. The game began to stretch in the second period, both teams started coming up with opportunities. Roma was given a huge let-off when Cristiano Ronaldo was — correctly — flagged just offside, then finally made the most of one of their opportunities when Alessandro Florenzi caught the left side of the defense napping and chipped a stranded Wojciech Szczesny. A stoppage time strike sealed Roma’s 2-0 victory, keeping them alive — barely — in the Champions League race. Massimiliano Allegri got a small boost with the return of Martin Caceres, Alex Sandro, Emre Can, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Paulo Dybala from the injured list, but still came into the game shorthanded — especially up front. Federico Bernardeschi was suspended due to yellow card accumulation and Moise Kean stayed home in Turin with the flu, leaving no healthy first-team forward for Allegri to deploy on the bench. Leonardo Bonucci also bowed out after he bruised an ankle in training. With few options, Allegri kept to the 4-3-3 that has been standard most of the year, but with a wrinkle up front. Szczesny started in goal against his former team behind the defense of Mattia De Sciglio, Caceres, Giorgio Chiellini, and Leonardo Spinazzola. Blaise Matuidi and Can joined another former Roma man, Miralem Pjanic, in midfield, with Ronaldo and Juan Cuadrado flanking Dybala, who played as a false nine. There were a lot of changes to Roma since the last time Juve faced them in December. Rather than Eusebio Di Francesco, they were guided by caretaker manager — and former Juve boss — Claudio Ranieri. Also new was the goalkeeper, with former Juve academy product Mirante having supplanted the error-prone Robin Olsen as the starter. In front of him Ranieri deployed a 4-3-3 of his own, with Florenzi, Federico Fazio, Kostas Manolas, and Aleksandr Kolarov arrayed in front of Mirante. Steven Nzonzi, Lorenzo Pellegrini, and Nicolo Zaniolo manned the midfield, while Justin Kluivert, Edin Dzeko, and Stephan El Shaarawy formed the strike team up front. Juve grabbed the upper hand early, and should have taken the lead seven minutes in when Blaise Matuidi released Emre Can on a counterattack. Cuadrado streaked down the right side unmarked and met Can’s square ball first time, but he put it in the one spot that Mirante would have been able to save it — and save it he did. It was an impressive stop, but also a definite miss by the Colombian. Roma was being forced to play on the counter in the first phases, as Juve played hard to get to loose balls and kept the Giallorossi penned in their own half of the Stadio Olimpico. With 16 minutes gone Mirante was called into action again when Ronaldo wove his way past four defenders to tee up Dybala in his sweet spot in the right channel. His left-footed effort was destined for the net, but this time Mirante made a truly fantastic stop, flying to his right and palming the ball away with one hand. Roma nearly took advantage of their keeper’s heroics two minutes later, moving swiftly up the field on the counter and delivering the ball to Pellegrini on the right side of the box, but his cross/shot toward Kluivert ended up hitting the bar. The 22-year-old had a shot go wide from the top of the penalty area before Mirante was called upon to yet again deny Dybala. This time it was a team move that created the opportunity, with Matuidi knocking a pass that Pjanic scooped over the top into the path of Ronaldo, who tapped it into the Argentine’s path. His powerful shot hit a sprawling Mirante in the hands and flew across the goalmouth, hitting the post on the other side and trickling into the middle of the six-yard box, where Can was flagged offside trying to poke it home. El Shaarawy has quietly had a bounce back season this year, leading Roma with 11 goals, and he got himself a good opportunity in the 36th minute when he beat his old Milan teammate De Sciglio and cut inside, but Chiellini slid into his shooting lane and blocked it with his chest. The half ended goalless, thanks entirely to the efforts of Mirante, and Roma got themselves the first chance of the second period four minutes in when El Shaarawy put in a good cross toward Dzeko, but Matuidi made a vital touch to disrupt the service, with Chiellini heading the second effort away from the box. Five minutes later a terrible pass by Can triggered a swift Roma counterattack, allowing Il faraone a great shooting opportunity, but he badly mishit it. The ball came right back to him off of Caceres, but he put it over. Just before the hour mark a minor scuffle broke out when Ronaldo began advancing the ball after Dzeko had gone down near the center circle. It was borderline unsportsmanlike, but Dzeko had also been embellishing the contact and had moved on to complaining to referee Davide Massa about not getting a foul, so the argument could be made that he had shown he didn’t need the attention.<doc-sep>South China Morning Post China and Russia have repeated their commitment to strengthen their relationship as the White House announced the first summit between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin next month. The June 16 meeting is widely seen as an olive branch from the US President to his Russian counterpart and some observers said it may be another attempt by Washington to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing. In a phone conversation on Tuesday with President Xi Jinping’s top diplomatic aide Yang Jiechi, Putin said relations between the two countries were “the best in history” and said it was essential for the two leaders to maintain close contact, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. Putin made similar comments a week ago when he and Xi launched via video link a project to build four new nuclear reactors in China using Russian technology. At the same event Xi also spoke highly of their “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination”. Xinhua said Putin also pledged to work with China to preserve global strategic stability and defend multilateralism – a possible veiled reference to Washington’s drive to use its relationship with its allies to target authoritarian governments. We will share space flight components with China: Russian space agency Yang, who was visiting Moscow for strategic and security talks, again stated China’s commitment to strengthening relations in the call with Putin, which touched on “several pressing global issues” according to the TASS news agency. “China is ready to work with Russia to comprehensively implement the consensus reached by the two presidents and turn the high-level political mutual trust into more results from strategic coordination,” Yang said, according to Xinhua. During his visit, Yang also co-chaired the annual bilateral strategic security consultations, a dialogue mechanism set up in 2005, along with Russian security council secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Tuesday. Analysts noted that Beijing and Moscow are edging closer together in the face of mounting pressure from the West. Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, said the Geneva summit showed Washington was trying to ease tensions with Moscow. “The Biden administration has softened its stance and tried to stabilise ties with Russia since it imposed sanctions on Moscow in April. It has become apparent that Washington will be more focused on China,” he said. China’s top diplomat heads to Russia on security talks mission Beijing suspected that the previous US administration also wanted to drive a wedge between China and Russia, with Donald Trump making repeated efforts to readmit Moscow to the Group of 7. Vladimir Portyakov, deputy director of the Institute of Far Eastern Affairs at the Russian Academy of Sciences, also described the Biden-Putin summit as an attempt to “slow down the Russian-Chinese rapprochement, and if successful, to pull Russia and China away from each other.” “I hope that Moscow understands this and will not play ‘equidistant’ from Washington and Beijing. I would also like to believe that Beijing will stop considering relations with the United States as a ‘priority of priorities’ and will gradually reduce its importance in China’s foreign policy,” he said. But Zhu said: “Both Beijing and Moscow have a growing interest in working with each other to confront the US and other Western countries. Strengthening their coordination is their best choice, and probably the only option to some extent.” In an editorial on Wednesday, the tabloid Global Times, controlled by the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, also attributed close China-Russian ties to “the US and its main allies’ suppression of the two countries”. Artyom Lukin, an associate professor at Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University, also said both China and Russia need each other. While Moscow has increasingly leaned on Beijing economically after the Covid-19 crisis, Beijing relies on Russia when it comes to the military-strategic realm and particularly hi-end military technology. “Moreover, the position of Russia may be crucial in the event of an increasingly likely military conflict between China and the US. Strong relations with Moscow would, at a minimum, secure China’s northern and Central Asian borders – and it cannot even be ruled out that Russia would provide direct assistance to Beijing in a Sino-US war,” he said. Lukin said that the Geneva summit was likely to bring about some short-term normalisation in US-Russia relations, but deep-seated tensions and disagreements made a full rapprochement unlikely. Putin threatens to ‘knock out the teeth’ of Russia’s opponents “I don’t think Washington will be seriously trying to drive a wedge between China and Russia. The people in the Biden administration are smart enough to understand it is not going to work. “Even if they try to do that, such a policy would almost certainly fail because the Russia-China political relationship is quite robust and will remain so for the foreseeable future,” he said. But Zhu said Moscow and Beijing were unlikely to form a full alliance. “China’s top diplomatic priority is to prevent further disengagement with the US and the West. I doubt that a strategic alliance will be in Beijing’s interests or help achieve that goal,” he said.More from South China Morning Post:Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin to hold first summit in Geneva on June 16Nuclear energy: China, Russia agree to boost ties in ‘strategic priority’ areaXi and Putin to mark expansion of China-Russia nuclear power project ahead of US talksThis article China and Russia once again pledge to strengthen ties as White House announces first Putin-Biden summit first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.<doc-sep>
Roma vs Juventus: TV channel, live stream, squad news & preview Claudio Ranieri's side are chasing a place in the Champions League but to get it will surely have to overcome the Serie A champions Roma face a stern challenge to keep their Champions League hopes for next season burning as they play host to Serie A winners Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday. The capital side have seen Atalanta move into fourth place with three weeks of action remaining, having themselves been held to draws against Inter and Genoa on recent away trips. Juve, meanwhile, will see this encounter as another chance to exert their dominance over the chasing pack, having won only one of their last six fixtures in all competitions. Article continues below Game Roma vs Juventus Date Sunday, May 12 Time 7:30pm BST / 2:30pm ET TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch For UK readers, get your fix on the latest football on TV here! US readers can find out what soccer is on TV here! In the United States (US), the game will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and Rai Italia America and is available for streaming on the ESPN+ channel. US TV channel Online stream ESPN / ESPN Deportes / Rai Italia America ESPN+ In the United Kingdom (UK), the game will be broadcast on Premier Sports 1. UK TV channel Online stream Premier Sports 1 N/A Squads & Team News Position Roma players Goalkeepers Olsen, Mirante, Fuzato Defenders Manolas, Juan, Fazio, Marcano, Kolarov, Santon, Florenzi, Karsdrop Midfielders Nzonzi, De Rossi, Pellegrini, Cristante, Zaniolo, Pastore, Coric Forwards El Shaarawy, Kluivert, Perotti, Under, Dzeko, Schick Roma have a number of nagging injury concerns prior to this match, but nothing too serious. Diego Perotti is the likeliest player to miss out, though there were also doubts over Davide Santon, Daniele De Rossi, Alessandro Florenzi and Justin Kluivert. Kluivert was fit for the XI, however. Confirmed Roma starting XI: Mirante; Florenzi, Manolas, Fazio, Kolarov; Zaniolo, N’Zonzi, Pellegrini; Kluivert, El Shaarawy, Dzeko Position Juventus players Goalkeepers Szczesny, Pinsoglio Defenders Chiellini, Cancelo, Spinazzola, Barzagli, De Sciglio, Sandro, Rugani, Caceres Midfielders Pjanic, Matuidi, Can, Cuadrado, Bentancur Forwards Ronaldo, Costa, Dybala Juventus are without a raft of players, including the suspended Federico Bernardeschi. On the injury front, Leonardo Bonucci, Sami Khedira and Mario Mandzukic are the most pressing concerns. Also missing as Mattia Perin, Daniele Rugani and Douglas Costa. Moise Kean will not play as he has the flu. Confirmed Juventus starting XI: Szczesny; Spinazzola, Caceres, Chiellini, De Sciglio; Can, Pjanic, Matuidi; Cuadrado, Ronaldo, Dybala Betting & Match Odds Roma are 6/4 favourites with Bet365 , while Juventus are available at 7/4. A draw is priced at 5/2. Match Preview Roma know that if they want to return to the Champions League next season, anything less than a perfect nine points from their remaining three matches leaves them vulnerable. They sit sixth in the Serie A standings and to break into the top four they will have to overhaul Atalanta, who are three points beyond them, and AC Milan, who edge them on head-to-head record. With 62 goals scored, they have been one of the most exciting teams to watch this season, yet their tally of 47 against is the highest by far in the top eight. For head coach Claudio Ranieri, signing off with Champions League qualification would be a dream end to his one-year tenure in the Eternal City, which he confirmed would end at the conclusion of the season. “My job ends with the last three games,” he explained on Friday. “I always knew that would be the case. I chose to come here for this season finale because I’m a Roma fan and I wanted to put my enthusiasm at the service of the team.” A 1-1 draw with Genoa last weekend has jeopardised those hopes, but Ranieri wants his team to channel that emotion. “It’s important to show our fans the desire for revenge,” he said. “We have three games left and we mustn’t leave anything to chance. We mustn’t have any regrets.” If Roma are driven forward by frustration in this game, it is pride that must push Juventus on to greater things. The title has already been theirs for the best part of a month and since then they have been held to 1-1 draws against Inter and Torino.