Fiorentina vs Juventus: the two-time challenge
For what seems to be a joke of the calendar, the challenge Fiorentina vs Juventus will be played twice in four days’ time. The first will be a Coppa Italia fixture (Fiorentina vs Juventus, Thursday, December, 1st at 21:00), the second will be for Serie A’s 14th week (Fiorentina vs Juventus, Sunday, December, 4th at 15:00). At the Artemio Franchi stadium, Thursday and Sunday, two of the teams mostly on form in the championship are going to be face to face, in a two-time challenge that is expected to be spectacular.
On the one hand there’s the Tuscan club led by Luca Toni, which beated Milan and earned a draw against Roma in the last two matchdays. On the other, Juventus, who are still on top of the table after the sonorous win over Treviso thanks to Mutu, Trezeguet and Del Piero goals.
After ending last season as sixteenth-ranked, one step away from relegation to Serie B, the Viola have been virtually turned upside down. Prestigious players like Chiellini, Maresca, Obodo, Nakata and Lupatelli have left and young and ‘hungry’ for wins players have arrived. Frey between the posts, Dainelli and Pancaro in defence, Brocchi and Fiore in the midfield, Toni in attack. Cesare Prandelli sits on the bench to replace Dino Zoff, the very Azzurri goalkeeper who had been his teammate at Juventus back in the 80’s.
In the past thirteen matchdays of this season, Fiorentina have proven to have what it takes to aim at the top. Defeated by Inter and Lazio, they managed to win all the other matches, except for those played away at Messina and at the Olimpico stadium. It’s the former Palermo player Toni who drives the squad; thanks to his 16 goals, he tops the Serie A goalscorers’ table, leaving behind the very Juventus No. 17 David Trezeguet. Toni is often led to goal by midfielders Fiore and Jorgensen, who respectively scored four and three goals too. Fiorentina are certainly a team who scores quite frequently but Juventus are well equipped to counter any opponent’s initiative. No striker has an easy ride being against a defence consisting of Cannavaro, Thuram, Zambrotta and Chiellini, and in fact the Bianconeri defence is the least beated in the championship with only 7 goals conceded. And up front, the threat for the opponents doesn’t lack, with champions like Del Piero, Ibrahimovic and Trezegoal. In short, these are the high-quality ingredients that make the double challenge against Fiorentina the chief attraction of both tournaments, Coppa Italia and Serie A, which you can’t afford to miss!