Juventus will be eager to conclude their title-winning season with a victory over Sampdoria on Saturday afternoon at the Juventus Stadium.
With the Coppa Italia final against AC Milan taking place on the 21st May, coach Massimiliano Allegri will expect his team to remain focused and end the Serie A season on a positive following a shock 2-1 loss to Serie A basement-dwellers, Hellas Verona, which ended an impressive 26-game unbeaten run.
Meanwhile, Sampdoria will be desperate to take any positives from their final match, in what has been a disappointing season that could see them finish in the bottom five.
On the heels of embarrassing losses to both Palermo and last weekend against Genoa, a 3-0 dismantling in the Derby della Lanterna, Vincenzo Montella’s men have only tasted victory once their last five games and a visit to Juventus provides a worrying outlook.
The recent head-to-head record between the clubs has been dominated by the Bianconeri, having won four of their last five matches, with Sampdoria’s last victory coming in May 2013.
This season’s reverse fixture ended 2-1 to the Serie A Champions, courtesy of goals from Paul Pogba and Sami Khedira, the Blucerciati finishing the match with 10 men following Niklas Moisander’s red card.
However last season’s corresponding fixture ended with a result for the Genoa-based club, ending 1-1 after a Patrice Evra opener was cancelled out by a Manolo Gabbiadini second-half equaliser.
For Allegri’s squad, Claudio Marchisio and Khedira remain on the sidelines through injury and will be joined by Alex Sandro, who will also miss the club’s final home match of the season due to a one-match suspension for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Meanwhile, Montella will be without the injured Carlos Carbonero and Moisander for their trip to Turin.
Juventus have long been crowned Champions and could reach an impressive 90 points with a win on Saturday. Sampdoria will be purely playing for pride where, dependent on results, they could finish the season as high as 12th and as low as 16th position.
Form Guide: Juventus (W-W-W-W-L) Sampdoria (L-D-W-L-L)
Expected Starting XIs:
Juventus : Buffon; Barzagli, Rugani, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Sturaro, Hernanes, Pogba, Evra; Mandzukic, Dybala.
Sampdoria: Viviano; Diakite, Silvestre, Cassani; De Silvestri, Soriano, Fernando, Barreto, Dodo; Cassano, Quagliarella.
Infographic source: www.sporticos.com
