Juve have seldom approached the derby against their Turin rivals with too much anxiety, but this Sunday’s clash could finally prove meaningful beyond simple bragging rights.
The Derby della Mole has hardly been one of Serie A’s most celebrated derbies in recent years. The tie has been dominated by Juventus, with the Bianconeri winning 10 of the last 11 encounters.
In fact, you have to go back 20 years to the 1994-95 season for a Torino win, when La Granata did the double over their cross-city rivals.
So indeed Juventus and their fans could be forgiven for having not given the Derby della Mole their full attention in seasons gone by, given their stellar record in the fixture in the modern era. This Sunday could be a very different occasion however.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side may have the opportunity to seal their fourth straight Scudetto with a win, providing that Roma lose against Inter on Saturday evening and Lazio lose against Chievo, which kicks off at the same time as Sundays’ Turin showdown.
Despite Allegri’s insistence that the title race was still to be decided, it has effectively been so for weeks if not longer. Failure to secure the trophy this weekend would not be the end of the world, but it would certainly be easier to have the Scudetto settled in advance of the Bianconeri’s upcoming Champions League semi final against Real Madrid — their first since 2003.
Added to that incentive, is the chance to win the league in the backyard of their local rivals at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino.
This may well be the champions elect’s most suitable game to be crowned champions, with little in the way of barnstorming decisive matches remaining in the season; even the games against Fiorentina and Napoli are unlikely to carry much real significance, for Juventus at least.
Torino are no longer the pushovers that had slumped to several defeats during a decade of fluctuation between Serie A and Serie B however, prior to their eventual return to the top tier in 2012.
Their yo-yo nature in the noughties combined with Juventus’ damning involvement in the Calciopoli scandal, meant the two clubs never really had the chance to clash.
That rather exaggerates the statistics behind the Bianconeri’s dominance, with a gap of five years without a meeting between 2002 and 2007.
Giampiero Ventura’s Granata have put together several impressive runs since the winter break after a poor start to the season. In 2015 Il Toro went unbeaten until March in a 12-game streak.
Certainly the lure of thwarting the team they were born out of in 1906 will motivate the Torino fans at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday; but it remains to be seen if the players can rediscover their form and make a late push for a Europa League place.
They currently sit six point adrift of fifth place, with Sampdoria, Fiorentina and Genoa above them and are seeing a previously promising end to the campaign slip away with each passing game.
History would dictate that Juventus are a shoe-in for yet another derby triumph this weekend, but rarely has the fixture carried the importance of being a potential title-clinching moment.
