Serie A leaders Juventus will face sixth place Fiorentina Wednesday evening in a highly anticipated match that gives both sides a little something to play for.
The Bianconeri are within grasping distance of their fourth Scudetto in a row, and can grab the title during the match provided that they win, and second place Lazio slip up against bottom of the table Parma.
The Bianconeri themselves aren’t in the best shape, and will not be able to take the match for granted as they have recently hit some disappointing form, losing twice in their past three matches.
Most notably, the Old Lady lost 2-1 away to Torino the last match day, disrupting the team’s 20-year unbeaten run against their city rivals.
On top of that, the team will have to worry about preparing itself against the European elites. The Bianconeri finally broke their Champions League disappointment this year with a display against Monaco that was just good enough to see them through to face last year’s winners Real Madrid.
Fiorentina, on the other hand, will look to spring a surprise victory at the Juventus Stadium by catching the Old Lady at a busy and tiring time.
The Viola were chasing Champions League positions earlier in April, but also seems to have been worn out by their Europa League exploits, losing three straight games to send the team to sixth place in the standings.
As a result, Vincenzo Montella and his men will be desperate to claw their way back up the eight-point gap between sixth and third, while also gaining some credit for taking down the reigning Serie A champions.
They’ve already done it once this season back in March, with a 2-1 win at the Juventus Stadium in the Coppa Italia. However, the Bianconeri surged back with a resounding 3-0 victory in the reverse fixture, and Juventus have historically won many more games against the Viola, at 21 compared to Fiorentina’s measly six wins.
The home side will be missing Paul Pogba, Martin Caceres, Kwadwo Asamoah, Romulo, and Patrice Evra to injuries, but will welcome back Claudio Marchisio to the lineup.
Fiorentina are missing a number of fringe players through injury, but most importantly are missing strikers Giuseppe Rossi and Khouma Babacar with season ending injuries.
Form Guide: Juventus (W-W-W-L-W-L), Fiorentina (W-D-W-L-L-L)
Expected Starting XIs
Juventus: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Cheillini, Barzagli, Padoin; Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio, Pereyra; Tevez, Morata
Fiorentina: Neto; Rodriguez, Savic, Alonso, Tomovic; Badelj, Fernandez, Valero; Joaquin, Gomez, Salah
