MILAN: Juventus have the chance to claim top spot in Serie A on Sunday with leaders Inter Milan contesting the Italian Super Cup, while Roma idol Daniele De Rossi takes the reigns at his boyhood club.
Massimiliano Allegri´s Juve can put pressure on Inter with a win at Lecce in a title race the coach inelegantly described as “cops and robbers”. “The robbers runaway and the cops give chase. If there is someone in front there has to be someone behind them,” said Allegri after last weekend´s 3-0 thumping of Sassuolo.
That was a remark which did not go down well with Inter fans, whose team are trying to retain the Italian Super Cup and who consider Juve their biggest rivals.
Inter do not have a league fixture this weekend due to their commitments in Riyadh, meaning that Juve can take advantage and move top of the pile by a single point.
Juve are on a six-match winning streak in all competitions and success at mid-table Lecce, where they will have almost a full squad at their disposal, would leave a potentially tired Inter playing catch-up with the Champions League last 16 also on the horizon.
Inter don´t play what would have been this weekend´s fixture with Atalanta until the end of February and when come back to Italy they have to travel to top four-chasing Fiorentina. That tough fixture, a week on Sunday, comes a day after Juve´s next home match with struggling Empoli where a four-point gap could be opened up.
And the following week Inter host Juve in what could be a crucial match in this season´s title race which is looking increasingly like a two-team affair.