Chelsea and Juventus have confirmed their pre-season line-ups for the friendly in Hong Kong, with kick-off due at 12.30 BST on Wednesday afternoon at Kai Tak Stadium. Kenan Yıldız is back available for Juventus, while Chelsea have named a 21-man bench and made several rotation calls before kick-off.
Yıldız returns to the Juventus squad
The clearest selection note for Juventus is Yıldız's return to the bench after a spell out with knee and fitness concerns. He has been absent for Juventus this pre-season after returning from the World Cup with those issues still being managed.
His tournament workload has been limited. Yıldız has made 3 appearances at the 2026 World Cup and logged 229 minutes, with a 6.98 rating across the competition. That points to a player being eased back rather than rushed into a starting role.
Juventus have not named either of their two new signings, Randal Kolo Muani or Kerim Alajbegovic, in the starting XI. Arkadiusz Milik is among the players starting for Juventus, alongside Di Gregorio, Kalulu, Gatti, Kelly, Celik, Locatelli, Douglas Luiz, Cambiaso, Miretti and Boga.
Chelsea's bench and rotation choices
Chelsea's bench is the other striking detail. They have 21 replacements available, which tells you this is being treated as a pre-season management exercise as much as a friendly.
The club are also without Levi Colwill and Cole Palmer on precautionary grounds, but they do have the recently-returned Mykhailo Mudryk among the substitutes. Chelsea's starting XI includes Robert Sanchez, Marco Palestra, Tosin, Fofana, Hato, Nicoll-Jazuli, Caicedo, Quenda, J. Pedro, Gittens and Danny Welbeck.
Recent form adds a bit of context to the line-up calls. Chelsea arrive with one win, one draw and three losses in their last five competitive matches, while Juventus have been steadier with two draws, two wins and one defeat in the same span.
That does not make the result secondary, but it does explain why both sides are using the Hong Kong fixture to rotate heavily and look at options before the season proper.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
