Milan: Juventus can play a major role in the final destination of the Serie A title when it hosts AC Milan on Saturday, despite once again having to watch its chances of challenging for the championship disappear.
Questions have been raised over the future of coach Luigi Del Neri after a run of six defeats in 10 games, with new signings Alessandro Matri and Andrea Barzagli — brought in during the January transfer window — failing to significantly improve results.
"Unfortunately, at this stage of the season, we need an injection of confidence," Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini said. "When we go in front, we have to do everything we can to ensure we win."
Milan leads nearest rival Inter Milan by five points after it beat third-place Napoli on Monday.
Juventus currently lies seventh, two points outside the final Europa League place occupied by Roma. It is also out of the Italian Cup.
The Juventus hierarchy was particularly angered by the team's most recent losses — away against Lecce and then at home to Bologna — which came after two consecutive wins.
"Against Lecce, we didn't run but we fought to the end against Bologna," midfielder Felipe Melo said. "We lost to Lecce because we were poor but we lost against Bologna because we wasted chances.
"Everyone is responsible for this. Now we need to work hard to get ourselves out of this situation."
Milan will be buoyant after its clinical 3-0 win over Napoli, with goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Alexandre Pato.
Boateng's return from injury was welcome as the Ghanaian injected greater attacking verve into Milan's midfield, while Pato's goal was a timely riposte to rumours in Italy that he is set to leave the club.
"I just want to play," Pato said. "We took three very important points (that go) toward winning the championship, but now we have to think about Juventus because we have to take all the points on offer."
Inter plays Genoa at the San Siro on Sunday, hopeful it can take advantage of any slip-up by Milan the day before.
For once, Inter coach Leonardo has had a full week to prepare his side for the weekend game. Since his arrival, Inter has had a match every weekend and midweek in either the Champions League, league or Italian Cup, apart from during the week of international friendlies in February.
After the visit of Genoa, Inter has a five-day break before playing Brescia, ahead of its Champions League second leg against Bayern Munich on 15th March.
"In these two weeks, we will refresh our tactics and try to recoup our strength," Leonardo said. "We haven't had a moment to rest in the last few months and really need this time to recover, mentally and physically."
Napoli knows it must return to winning ways at home to Brescia on Sunday or face an anti-climatic end to a season that had promised much.
Three days before the loss to Milan, Napoli exited the Europa League after a 2-1 defeat to Villarreal and it must stay strong mentally to hold onto the third automatic Champions League place.
"Defeats happen but now we have to look forward," Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri said. "We are already thinking about Sunday's game. We have lost a final, but now we have another 11 till we finish and we will take them one at a time.
"This is the right mentality to have and we will continue on this path. I have never talked about objectives but 12 finals. We have lost one, but we have another 11."
On Friday, Roma is at 16th-place Lecce.
Also on Sunday, it's Bologna vs Cagliari, Chievo Verona vs Parma, Fiorentina vs Catania, Lazio vs Palermo, Sampdoria vs Cesena and Udinese vs Bari.
Comments
0 comment