Crisis club Juve hoping to bounce back

The Serie A title race will most likely take a back seat for the foreseable future after Inter Milan opened up an eight-point lead over bitter neighbours AC Milan.

Inter’s victory in the Milan derby two weeks ago despite playing more than two-thirds of the match with a numerical disadvantage seems to have settled the title question.

But there is still much to play for in Serie A and many issues to be resolved.

Not least there is the Juventus situation.

They are the biggest and most decorated team in Italy with 27 titles to their name and they began the season expecting to wrest back the Serie A crown from Inter.

Indeed many pundits, including Italy coach Marcello Lippi, tipped them to bring to an end Inter’s four-year reign.

But now they are a club in turmoil, knocked out of both the Champions League and Coppa Italia and out of the title race, down in fifth place – they trail Inter by 15 points having played a game more.

Their recent form is abysmal and reads more like a relegation candidate than a title contender – three wins, a draw and nine defeats in their last 13.

Ciro Ferrara paid for that run with his job and has been replaced by Alberto Zaccheroni but first game failed to yield a victory as it finished 1-1 at home to lowly Lazio.

They have a tricky away tie against Livorno on Saturday in a match that holds some significance due to how their first clash earlier in the season affected their campaign.

Juve began the season with four straight league wins, the fourth of which was a 2-0 home success over Livorno.

However, they were dominated in the second half and had goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to thank for coming away with the three points.

And that game heralded the beginning of Juve’s troubles as other teams took heart from their difficulties in overcoming the minnows and started to exploit their failings.

And now this is a team desperate to rediscover itself with Zaccheroni even mulling a switch to a back three to try to shore up a leaky defence – only seven teams in the 20-team league have conceded more goals than Juve.

Juve’s other problem is that the two teams liable to deny them a place in next season’s Champions League are the two most in-form in the league.

Since a difficult start under coach Claudio Ranieri and losing three in a row in October, AS Roma have been on an incredible run, winning 14 and drawing three of their last 17 games in all competitions.

They have stormed up from just above the relegation zone to level on points with second-placed AC Milan.

But their trip to Fiorentina on Sunday will be as tough a test as they’ve faced on this run.

Napoli are fourth and four points ahead of Juve. Since losing to Roma in October, a match that saw Roberto Donadoni fired and replaced by Walter Mazzarri, they are unbeaten in Serie A.

Eight wins and seven draws later they have proved defensively sound and difficult to beat – they haven’t conceded a goal in six matches.

They travel to Udinese on Sunday looking to continue this run.

Milan have a tricky away trip to Bologna as they hope to bounce back from their last two disappointing results, the defeat at Inter followed by a home draw with Livorno.

They had been the form team in Serie A until then but will have to continue for the moment without injured pair Alexandre Pato and Andrea Pirlo, although Gianluca Zambrotta should make his return.

Inter’s clash on paper looks straight-forward at home to Cagliari but the Sardinians have proved tricky opponents this season and beat Juventus 2-0 back in November.

Fixtures:

Saturday

Livorno v Juventus, Palermo v Parma

Sunday

Atalanta v Bari, Bologna v AC Milan, Fiorentina v AS Roma, Genoa v Chievo, Inter Milan v Cagliari, Lazio v Catania, Siena v Sampdoria, Udinese v Napoli