Juventus begin life after Cristiano Ronaldo with a home match against Empoli in Serie A on Saturday.

The legendary forward has agreed a return to Manchester United, and Massimiliano Allegri was already planning for this weekend without the Portugal captain anyway.

His final contribution for the club was having a stoppage time winner ruled out in their 2-2 draw with Udinese to kick off the new Serie A season last week. With champions Inter having won their opening two games of the season, Juve are already playing catch up, and could really do with a win against Serie B champions Empoli to kickstart their season.

Here’s 90min’s preview of the game.

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When is kick-off? Saturday 28 August
What time is kick-off? 19:45 (BST)
Where is it played? Allianz Stadium
TV channel/live stream? BT Sport 2 (UK and ROI), bet365 App (UK and ROI), Paramount+ (US)
Referee? Davide Ghersini

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Adrien Rabiot could return from injury in time for Saturday’s game, while Weston McKennie is available again after completing his suspension.

Aaron Ramsey and Arthur are out, as is new signing Kaio Jorge, but Federico Chiesa could be in line for his first start of the season after only appearing from the bench against Udinese.

Empoli do not have any new injury concerns after their 3-1 defeat to Lazio on the opening day.

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Juventus: Szczesny; Cuadrado, De Ligt, Bonucci, Sandro; McKennie, Bentancur, Locatelli; Chiesa Morata, Dybala

Empoli: Vicario; Stojanovic, Ismajli, Romagnoli, Marchizza; Ricci, Haas, Bandinelli; Bajrami; Mancuso, Cutrone

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The two sides last met in Serie A in the 2018/19 season, with Juve winning 1-0 at home and 2-1 away.

The Old Lady have triumphed in 13 of their last 15 meetings with Empoli in what has been a pretty one-sided fixture down the years (as is usually the case with Juventus against Italian sides).

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Allegri is back home, Paulo Dybala has the keys to the team again, and it feels like a weight has been lifted off of Juve’s shoulders now that Ronaldo has left.

Expect them to put on a show in front of a returning crowd at Allianz Stadium. Sorry, Empoli. That’s just how it is sometimes.

Prediction: Juventus 3-0 Empoli