Juventus V Fiorentina
Serie A – Week 33 [Wednesday, 29th April – 19:45 GMT] – Juventus Stadium
Juventus
Claudio Marchisio looks set to make his 300th appearance for Juventus when the Bianconeri face Fiorentina tomorrow night.
Juve are edging ever closer to the Scudetto and only need 4 points to mathematically seal the title, but consecutive away losses to Parma and Torino (their first since 2010) have put the party on hold for the moment.
The Bianconeri have a string of tough fixtures as the season comes to close, starting with tomorrow’s game against Fiorentina, swiftly followed by matches against Sampdoria, Napoli and Inter, not to mention the Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid.
Juve coach Max Allegri called for focus with the title so close and drew positives from the weekend’s loss to city-rivals Torino.
“These things can happen in football. I think the two games against Parma and against Torino on Sunday are two different games.” Allegri told reporters in the pre match conference.
“Against Torino it was a good performance, one of our better recent ones, especially given the number of chances we created.
“We had a lot of shots at goal, we hit the post three times, and in defence we made three mistakes and conceded two goals.
“We’re focused, and we must remain focused on the League, because we need four points to be mathematically certain [of winning the Scudetto], so we have to try to get them.
“Then we’ll continue to work in the best way, because as well as the Champions League, where the two semi-finals will be the most important games of the season, we have the Coppa Italia final to play.
“We have to continue to work in a certain way, with the right attitude, that’s what will make the difference.”
Patrice Evra has recovered from a hip injury while Claudio Marchisio returns from suspension but Leonardo Bonucci misses the game following his booking at the weekend.
Gigi Buffon is fit and will begin in goal while Andrea Barzagli will partner Giorgio Chiellini in defence with Evra and Stephan Lichtsteiner completing the back 4.
Andrea Pirlo scored a sublime free kick in the 2-1 defeat to Toro and he’ll likely start at the base of the midfield 3 with Marchisio and Arturo Vidal while Roberto Pereyra will play behind Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata up front.
Probable lineup:
4-3-1-2: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Chiellini, Evra; Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio; Pereyra; Tevez, Morata
Injured Players:
Asamoah and Romulo (Recovering from surgery), Caceres (ankle), Pogba (hamstring)
Suspended Players:
Bonucci
Form
(W-L-W-D-L)
Fiorentina
Fiorentina are dropping the ball in Serie A. They have lost the last three matches, including two indefensible performances against Hellas Verona and Cagliari at home. It’s understandable that they are focusing on Europa League, where they reached the semifinal, but they have squandered a commanding lead over the other competitors. Genoa and Torino are just two points behind them, while they have a solitary point advantage over Inter; certainly they can’t bank on winning the trophy in order to qualify to an European cup next season. The atmosphere in Florence is apparently stormy, as the president wanted the squad to go on retreat before this road game (it’s becoming a trend), while Montella asked him not to impose it.
They need to bounce back quickly from the last three matches and the return of the Coppa Italia semifinal against Juventus, which some are pointing as the negative turning point of their final part of the season (but they still advanced against Dynamo Kiev, so I’m not sure about that). While it happens sometimes that Napoli beat the opponent like a drum at San Paolo, nobody was expecting Hellas Verona and Cagliari to come away with points from Artemio Franchi. There are some reasons: they weren’t fielding their best XI in either of those games and they are not as good defensively when Gonzalo Rodriguez doesn’t play, but that’s not enough to justify why there were so flat, in particularly on Sunday.
On Wednesday, they’ll be without Giuseppe Rossi, who’s set to miss the whole season, and Khouma Babacar, who tore a MCL in the few minutes he played against Hellas Verona. Vincenzo Montella will probably look to field the best lineup, resting his cornerstones on Sunday ahead of the key clash against Sevilla. Among the regular starters, Rodriguez, Marcos Alonso, Mati Fernandez, Joaquin and Mario Gomez have been preserved in the weekend, so they’ll probably get the nod in the midweek match, even though Alberto Gilardino looked good in the last game. David Pizarro has just returned from an injury so he’s unlikely to play twice in a row in three days, so Milan Badelj is primed to be in the heart of the midfield, even though he’s been given no rest recently. Borja Valero could be benched for Alberto Aquilani, who’s a viable option at deep-lying playmaker too, or Jasmin Kurtic. Mo Salah, Alessandro Diamanti or Juan Manuel Vargas will complete the attack.
They’ve been using 4-3-3 constantly as of late and I think they’ll insist on that as they are in a little offensive slump. They have been pretty good so far on the road, with 25 points in 16 matches (4th in the League): they have collected more points away from their stadium than at home. However, the track record means little in this bout: focus, determination and the energy level will determine the outcome.
Probable lineup:
4-3-3: Neto; Richards, Rodriguez, Savic, Alonso; Aquilani, Badelj, Mati Fernandez; Joaquin, Gomez, Salah.
Injured players:
Rossi (knee), Babacar (knee).
Suspended Players:
None
Form
(L-D-L-W-L)
Formations:
Getting back to winning ways would be nice. All for rotation but we do need to keep a winning mentality
We’re going to be doing another Q&A with a great Madrid blog ahead of next weeks game – Do you have any questions for them ?
I could really do with getting soem good questions for them
Ummm ummm does he have any shred of complacency going into the match against us? I shall think of more
– Do Madrid consider themself lucky to be drawn with Juve?
– Which player is most dangerous in our team?
– How do they view Morata? Not much of a threat or regrets in selling him?
– Do you prefer super talents or great teamwork?
– Make the best line-up you can think of using players from both teams
Anything useful there? 😛
Fantastic ! You are the man. Job done
Haha, you’re welcome! Will be cool to see the answers on these questions!
I like these questions
Thanks xp
I’d like to know what they think of Bale bc of the whole trashing the car situation and the media has been tough on him. Also my buddy is a big bale fan but I don’t think I really see all the hype
Bale is all hype
Why do you support Real Madrid? Sorry, i have nothing, Belgian kind of shut me up :p
I particular, i’d like to know the answers on Belgians 1st and 3rd question.
Zamparini said today that if an offer of 40m doesn’t come to him for dybala then he will simply keep him. Maybe thats the best case scenario and get him for cheap in january
He will have to sell him for the highest bid tho. Don’t think Palermo are in a position to stick with this price, or are they?
I don’t think so. Also its zamp we are talking about, constantly blowing smoke.
The contract expires at the end of next season, anyone who actually pays that is insane
Zamparini would sell him to Juve or Napoli for 35m.
Lots of rumors coming around, I’m just hoping we get someone decent. I’d be very happy with:
Out:
Pogba (not happy, but he’s not staying much longer)
Llorente
Ogbonna
Matri
Pepe
PADOIN
De Ceglie
Romulo
Coman (loan)
Sturaro (loan)
*Asamoah (may find it hard to get playing time at CM, still useful LWB)
In:
FW- Dybala and Berardi
AM- Vazquez
CM- Allan
CB- Rugani
LB- Darmian/Marcos Alonso/Coentrao/Rodriguez
I’d like this too. Matri and Romulo can go back to their club after the loan, neither is needed. I think Pepe’s contract ends this season? In any case he should be sold or not renewed.
– Llorente for any offer close to 15 million.
– Ogbonna for anything around 10mill.
– Padoin for 5 mill
– PDC for pretty much anything you can get for him.
– Sell/end contract with Rubinho.
Coman and Sturaro loans make sense too. I wouldn’t sell Asamoah. If Pogba goes, it should be for no less than 80 million.
Which would be 113 mill for transfers (assuming we get the mentioned prices and 3mill for PDC) + whatever we have to spend without these sales.
That’s 11 players gone though, with 1 starter included in Pogba. (Counting on Tevez to stay here)
So, bring in:
– Neto (free) (Storari becomes 3rd choice keeper)
– Rugani (already ours)
– Darmian or Coentrao (10mill, 15mill)
– Berardi (15 mill)
– Zaza (15mill) I’d buy him and maybe loan him out to a stronger club than Sassuolo, something like Sampdoria or Lazio. At least use our option on him.
– Dybala: 30mill MAX, try to get a deal with Dybala to get him for free after his contract expires (end of next season) Zamparini has no ground to bargain. Also read: https://football-italia.net/65855/dybala-only-wants-juventus
– Oscar: 20 mill
– That’s 95 mill spent, so there is still room for more moves to be made on youngsters/free agents.
Sorry guys, it seems the dutch streams have been abandoned. Haven’t found anything o n them for a couple of weeks now. Only one stream is running with La Liga highlights.
Golazo from Tevez 2-1
And again Tevez 😀
The dutch commentator now said ”Juve is still leading 2-1 in Juventus Stadium, which is a very ugly name for a stadium by the way.” Thank you very much for calling my clubs name ugly fuckhead! I should send an email with this line.
Why does your dutch commentator hate us so much???
Because we’re Italian, because we ”won the 1996 CL with doping”, because we were involved in a scandal. It’s not just him, it’s 90% of the dutch people who hate us for these reasons. Maybe even more,
Also, dutch people hate foul play or bribing scandals, but whenever it happens in Holland, England or Spain, it gets forgotten real easy. I’m hoping for a scandal every day in the Eredivisie. We’re getting quite close as a referee was named by a criminal to have manipulated a match.
Hahahaha that’s some childish shit
We have to kill him. With fire
did allegri just go in the tunnel without shaking hands with montella? i didnt see anything post final whistle
Yes.