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Serie A Preview: Juventus v AS Roma
BACKGROUND:
On Sunday night, the 'Delle Alpi' stadium of Turin will be the host for the most important match of the day, and up till now, of the whole season.
It has been an unusual week prior to Sunday's encounter between the current Italian Champions and the resurgent Roma side. This is whereas usually we would have a whole week of heated arguments going on between Roma's President Franco Sensi and Juventus' General Manager Luciano Moggi, strangely enough both rivals have kept very quiet. For once they will let the players do the talking, but rest assured that bad refereeing decisions will spark endless and useless debates on who got the most favours and who was the most damaged in the aftermath.
The technical aspect of the match offers very interesting topics with both teams coming from two straight league wins to keep a 100% Serie A record just like Lazio, Milan and Inter. Even if it is still early on in the season, this match already promises to be a battle between two teams who want to keep their firm grips on the top spot of the table.
Even though Juventus' main target for the season is the coveted Champions League trophy that has eluded them many times in the past years, they are not going to give up on their hard earned Scudetto, especially not to their rivals Roma. Interviewed after the midweek encounter between Juventus and Galatasaray, Moggi commented that Juventus will always put up a fight against Roma, even if it was just for a game of dice!
After such a disappointing season, Fabio Capello and his troops are looking forward to this mouth watering encounter and to showing everyone that they are back to their best by defeating the bianconeri on their own soil. In fact the Roma Coach is very confident of his team's chances, especially after admiring Cristian Chivu's brilliant debut against Brescia, which was highlighted with a wonderfully taken free kick. What was last year's Roma's weakest department has probably become the best department of the whole Serie A, thanks to Chivu and Walter Samuel, so it will be very tough for the Juventus frontline to crack the Roman defense open.
Since taking over Roma, Capello has only managed one win against Juventus (2-0 in the 2001/02 season) while the other seven matches ended in 3 victories for the bianconeri and 4 draws.
LATEST TEAM NEWS:
JUVENTUS: Few changes for Lippi's side from the current winning formation, with Edgar Davids likely to take over from Alessio Tacchinardi after the latter picked up a knock in the Champions League match. Fabrizio Miccoli is still recovering from the appendix operation he undertook 3 weeks ago, so Mauro Camoranesi will keep his role in the first team. Nicola Legrottaglie, who Roma were very close to clinching before Juventus interfered in the transfer, will have recovered from the midweek injury and is at Lippi's disposal.
ROMA: Without Christian Panucci and Vincent Candela, Capello will most probably have to redesign his defense to three central defenders with Jonathan Zebina, Samuel and Chivu. Olivier Dacourt will be back from suspension so he will push the young De Rossi on the bench, while Antonio Cassano is still doubtful and Marco Del Vecchio might take his place.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS:
Juventus (4-2-3-1): Buffon; Zambrotta, Montero, Legrottaglie, Thuram; Davids, Appiah; Del Piero, Nedved, Camoranesi; Trezeguet
Roma (3-4-1-2): Pelizzoli; Zebina, Samuel, Chivu; Mancini, Dacourt, Emerson, Lima; Totti, Cassano, Montella
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus): The Juventus captain is passing through a magnificent moment having scored 4 goals in the past 3 games for the Old Lady. This match against Roma will definitely tell us if Pinturicchio is really back to his best form.
Francesco Totti (Roma): It only took one match for Totti to show us he is still up there amongst the best in the world. Pavel Nedved, this week, hailed him as the best Italian player there is and we cannot disagree with the Czech's judgment, adding that he is currently also probably one of the top three in the world.