Ranieri on Juventus brink ahead of Milan trip

Claudio Ranieri could be about to take charge of his final match in the Juventus hot-seat as the Italian giants travel to AC Milan this weekend.

The Old Lady of Turin have not won in their last five Serie A matches and now sit third in the table, 11 points behind leaders Inter Milan and four behind second-placed Milan with four matches left.

A defeat would all but mathematically end their hopes of a top two finish and speculation in the Italian press this week claims that such a scenario would see the former Chelsea and Valencia boss shown the door.

Ranieri still has a year to run on his contract but while Juve had previously backed him publically, they have failed to do so this week.

“In football first you need to get some results and then you can talk,” said president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli.

“Obviously we want to hold onto third place but we still believe we can finish second.”

He also praised Ranieri but could not bring himself to give him a vote of confidence.

“I have expressed great esteem for Ranieri. I can still remember the match against Chelsea (in the Champions League where they narrowly lost 1-0) as if it was yesterday.

“Against a great team, I remember my Juventus players in London and here in Turin almost matched them. Ranieri knows that he has to demonstrate that Juve can perform like this again.”

That won’t be easy against a Milan team that have won their last five matches, scoring 13 goals in the process.

Evergreen forward Filippo Inzaghi has been in brilliant form over the last two months, scoring 11 goals in his last eight matches and with Kaka returning to his sparkling best, and getting in amongst the goals, Juve are sure to be in for a tough night at the San Siro.

Whilst Milan’s recent resurgence has seen them charge up the table, if they do lose to Juve, bitter city rivals Inter could claim the title.

Jose Mourinho’s team travel to Verona to face Chievo in the first of potentially four championship deciders.

With a seven-point lead over Milan, Inter could win the title at any moment in the next four matches.

However, Chievo are fighting to avoid being dragged down into the relegation slugfest — currently Reggina, Bologna, Lecce and Torino are fighting it out to be the one of the four that escapes the drop — and this will be far from an easy test.

Even so, Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani admitted it is only a matter of time before Inter claim a fourth scudetto in a row.

“The season isn’t over, there’s still four more matches to play and the numbers will be added up at the end,” he said.

“Even if the title isn’t quite locked up, let’s not be funny, it’s not possible to claw back seven points in four matches.”

The other undecided race is that for fourth place and Champions League football next season.

Fiorentina are in pole position for that and travel to Catania on Sunday with Genoa, who travel to Atalanta, breathing down their necks, just a point back.

AS Roma’s hopes of finishing fourth all but died last weekend with a 0-0 draw at home to Chievo.

They have won only two out of their last nine league matches and trail Fiorentina by eight points.

Fixtures

Saturday

Lazio v Udinese, Sampdoria v Reggina

Sunday

AC Milan v Juventus, Atalanta v Genoa, Cagliari v AS Roma, Catania v Fiorentina, Chievo v Inter Milan, Lecce v Napoli, Siena v Palermo, Torino v Bologna