juventuslazio

Juventus V Lazio

Serie A – Week 31 [Saturday, 18th April – 19:45 GMT] – Juventus Stadium


 

 juventus

Juventus

Juventus are almost there – A fourth successive scudetto is within sight and only 8 games remain in Serie A this season, but the Bianconeri have to face the best the league has to offer, starting with Lazio tomorrow night.

While I’m loathe to make comparisons, it’s become all too easy to contrast Juve’s current campaign with the seasons that came before. At this stage in 2014, Juventus had secured a third scudetto, however in Europe they failed to make it out of the group-stages of the Champions League and were unceremoniously dumped out of the Coppa Italia in the quarter-finals by Roma.

Fast foward a year and Juve are on the verge of their 33rd Scudetti while only 90 minutes separates them from a Champions League semi-final spot and then there’s the small matter of the Coppa Italia final against tomorrow’s opponents, Lazio.

Credit, of course, must go to Antonio Conte for getting the team so far, however current coach Max Allegri has been nothing short of a revelation over the last 10 months. Where Conte bought intensity and a do-or-die attitude to almost every game, Allegri has instilled a sense of calm in his players, a quality many of them have attributed to their success so far.

Addressing reporters earlier today, Allegri was quick to assure that his only focus was on Lazio while insisting the Scudetto isn’t won yet.

“Tomorrow I’ll be deploying my best team, as always,” Allegri cautioned in today’s Press conference. “Tomorrow’s game is the most important one, we’ll see about the one on Wednesday, and then the one next Sunday.

“It’s hard to think that someone shouldn’t play because they have been booked. He can play, and then if he picks up a yellow card he can skip the following game. Eventually he’ll have to miss out on a match anyway.

“If you start calculating things this way you entangle yourself, because things always work out the other way around to the way you planned them.

“We still need a lot of points to win it, because Lazio and Roma are still capable of making 82 and 81 points.

“So it’s still a very long road in Serie A and we need to get there slowly, conscious that the games are going to be difficult, because we’ll be facing some very strong teams.”

With all this in mind, certain Italian media outlets are suggesting Allegri will rotate his team with one eye on next week’s Champions League match against Monaco. While Sky Sport Italia reported yesterday that Juve would field a 3-5-2, todays Gazzetta favour the 4-3-1-2 and that’s way i think we’ll go.

Gigi Buffon will undoubtedly start, but the defence could feature Simone Padoin at right back with Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci in the centre and Patrice Evra on the left. Claudio Marchisio may get a well-earned rest with Andrea Pirlo getting the nod in his place and Arturo Vidal, Stefano Sturaro and Roberto Pereyra lining up in midfield.

Alvaro Morata started in midweek so we may see Fernando Llorente or Alessandro Matri starting in his place alongside Carlos Tevez.

Probable lineup:

4-2-3-1: Buffon; Padoin, Barzagli, Bonucci, Evra; Vidal, Pirlo, Sturaro; Pereyra; Tevez, Llorente

Injured Players:

Asamoah and Romulo (Recovering from surgery), Caceres (ankle), Pogba (hamstring),

Suspended Players:

Ogbonna

Form

(W-W-W-L-W)

 

lazio

Lazio

Lazio have all the momentum in the world: they are riding an eight-match winning streak, they are in second position and they have just leapfrogged the crosstown archrivals Roma. Moreover, they have reached the Coppa Italia final. How can it get better than this for them? Hopefully it won’t.

Not only they have been winning games recently, but they have also beaten their opponents convincingly and they have been playing really well. These three things doesn’t necessarily go along all the times. Stefano Pioli is having one hell of a redemption year after that bad season with Bologna, which by the way wasn’t totally his fault as there were heavy financial problems.

The coach stumbled onto a pot of gold once Felipe Anderson decided it was time to take Serie A by storm (ten goals and seven assists since the start of December) and he managed to build a very efficient and fun 4-2-3-1 around him. Anderson is their biggest weapon, but they have many playmakers and threats, both with and without the ball. The always active Antonio Candreva plays on the opposite wing, while Stefano Mauri, with his ability to sneak between defenders, find the right position in the box and finish, is the perfect complement for the dynamic duo. On top of that, Miroslav Klose, while he has lost a step or two, is still a capable goal scorer. Lazio have the best attack in the League (58 goals, edging Juve by a single unit) and this tells the whole story about their offensive prowess.

They are a solid team on all departments, but they will be without two cornerstones on Saturday. Marco Parolo fractured a rib and Stefan De Vrij sprained his knee in the last match. The 20-year-old rookie Danilo Cataldi has played a lot this year, because of an injury to Senad Lulic, and he should fill in easily in the midfield. On the other hand, the Dutch international, after a rocky start, has been in the top echelon of centre-backs and replacing him will be very difficult: Lazio have played thrice without De Vrij and they have lost every single time. They simply don’t have a quality substitute.

With the bench players Diego Novaretti and Luis Pedro Cavanda suspended, the starting LB Stefan Radu out with a knee injury and the nominal starter at the beginning of the season Santiago Gentiletti still dealing with some ailments, Pioli will have to find a way to piece together a respectable defensive line. The only two certain elements are Dusan Basta at RB and Mauricio as one of the two CBs. Lorik Cana is probably the favorite to pair up with Mauricio, with either Edson Braafheid or Senad Lulic as the left-back. Pioli might decide to strenghten the midfield with Lulic, excluding Mauri from the starting XI (but he’s good off the bench too). Lucas Biglia has elevated his game this season and has become a high level deep-lying midfielder and he’s a menace on free kicks too. Federico Marchetti fractured his nose last week, but he’ll reportedly play with a mask.

While dealing with some adversities, Lazio will try in every possible way to catch Juventus off guard, as this game is sandwiched between the two legs of the Champions League quarterfinal. In Rome, Biancocelesti fans are dreaming about repeating the 2000 championship comeback. Allegri’s side will have to pay attention to Lazio’s aggressive style, to the many long-range threats and to their schemes on set pieces. More importantly, however, Juventus need to have control of the ball to take them out of their rhythm, as their offense can be overwhelming when they start sharing the ball, cutting, crossing and shooting frequently.

Probable lineup:

4-3-3: Marchetti; Basta, Mauricio, Cana, Lulic; Biglia, Cataldi; Candreva, Mauri, Felipe Anderson; Klose

Injured players:

De Vrij (knee), Parolo (ribs), Radu (knee), Gentiletti (thigh), Konko (ribs), Novaretti (hand).

Suspended players:

Novaretti, Cavanda.

Form

(W-W-W-W-W)

 

Formation