By Petar Todorovski
Juventus awaits Lazio on Stadio Olimpico in Turin on Sunday in the derby of the week of Serie A. That will be clash between 2nd placed Aquile and 3rd placed team from Turin from which at least one team will be even more points behind leaders Milan if they eventually win in Bologna as expected.
Juventus sit the third place with 27 points three behind the next rival and six behind Milan. Nevertheless they haven’t very impressive score at home as three victories from seven matches are not enough for a club of their standard. Despite that, it’s an interesting fact that Old lady has scored most home goals in the league, seventeen, as much as Milan, but also they are best away scorers, a stat that makes them best scoring team. However, they can’t keep their net untouched. Juventus have only one clean sheet in last seven games in domestic championship. Despite the defense problems they know how to find the path to rival’s net. That’s how they made the impressive run of 15 unbeaten games in all competitions, beating Catania in Sicily in champion’s manner last week. Before that match Sicilians weren’t beaten there for a year.
Unlike Juve, which could have done much better so far, Lazio are this season’s high-flyers. They were topping the table for a while before Milan’s good run. They managed to pick up soon after defeat in Derby della Capitale and kept their Scudetto challenger position. Now they’re three points behind Rossoneri.
Juventus players expressed their expectations of tough game ahead. Nicola Legrottaiglie was speaking about the importance of the match. “It’s early to say if the game on Sunday is decisive, there are still many games, but it is an important match from a psychological view. The team is always growing, and so winning a game like this would mean second place, and if Milan fail then this could makes us even more motivated,” he said, confirming that they still dream for the Championship title. “We are preparing for something big, but you cannot hit the top instantly. We have to move slowly to achieve long term results,” he added.
Unlike him defender Zdenek Grygera denied that they care about other teams results. “That won’t affect us, we have to be focused on our own challenges. We are working only towards the match against Lazio. We are waiting for this great game,” he claimed when he was asked to comment on Milan’s tricky travel.
Aquile coach Edy Reja talked about winning in Turin. “We want to come from Turin with a positive result as that will increase our points tally and we could increase our future prospects,” claiming his champion ambitions. However, later he ruled out the title wishes in smooth manner: “But we will not deceive our fans. The title does not seem very feasible. However, in football you can never say never.”
It’s almost impossible to come out with reasonable prediction for Juventus – Lazio clash. Juve is very unpredictable team, which either wins or plays draw, while Lazio is full of energy and young spirit and doesn’t fear anyone. After all, we can enjoy the game expecting only a great play and a lot of goals, nothing more.
