Juventus vs Roma: Crunch clash awaits in Turin
An entertaining clash awaits as Juventus welcome familiar foes Roma to Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
This tie is arguably the biggest of round 21. Reigning champions Juventus, who are seeking to clinch an unprecedented tenth straight Scudetto, have found the battle for the league crown to be much harder than anticipated. The Bianconeri come into this match sitting in fourth, although they do have a game in hand due to their participation in the Supercoppa Italiana. Meanwhile, Roma, who have been having one of their best campaigns in decades, find themselves in third spot.
Just one point splits these two teams, meaning that this match could see a shake-up in the league standings. With both AC Milan and Inter still remaining in the top two spots, both Juventus and Roma will have even more incentive to pick up all three points here. Although La Vecchia Signora boast a formidable home record, with just two losses from their last 38 ties, those defeats occurred as recently as last year. In December, Fiorentina shocked the Turin titans by beating them 3-0 shortly before the Christmas break. And in August, Roma came to Turin and left with a 3-1 win in Maurizio Sarri’s last game in charge.
Juventus had already won the league title by that point, but losing back to back games allowed Inter to pull within just a point of them. In fact, had the Nerazzurri drawn a lower number of matches, Antonio Conte’s men likely would have pipped the Bianconeri to the Scudetto for the first time since 2010. This season has seen Juventus look less formidable, as they’ve already dropped points against minnows like Hellas Verona, Crotone, and Benevento – all teams that they should have no issues dispatching without much fuss. They’ve already also lost to Inter, although they did get some revenge on the Nerazzurri for their 2-0 Derby d’Italia defeat by picking up a crucial 2-1 road win in the Coppa Italia. That being said, Juventus are the first team to beat a high-flying Milan this season and have rebounded well since their loss to Inter by battling to consecutive 2-0 wins over Bologna and Sampdoria.
The first meeting this season between the Bianconeri and Roma finished as a two-all draw at the Stadio Olimpico. The Lupi will be hoping to make history this Saturday by earning consecutive victories over Juventus in Turin; to date, La Vecchia Signora have never lost back-to-back home Serie A ties against the Giallorossi in club history. Paulo Fonesca’s side have positioned themselves as potential dark horse contenders for the Scudetto, but one blemish against the capital club is their record when taking on fellow title challengers this season.
Indeed, Roma have yet to beat any of the teams who look like realistic contenders. They suffered a 4-0 humiliating defeat to Napoli, and have drawn with Inter, Milan, and Juventus. And that’s not to mention their 3-0 loss to Lazio in the Derby della Capitale. In addition, they’re dealing with some internal drama surrounding star striker Edin Dzeko. There were rumors that the Bosnian international was set to move to Inter in a swap deal with Alexis Sanchez, but nothing came to fruition, and Inter’s bosses have denied any advanced talks taking place.
Dzeko trying to get out of his contract clearly has not gone down well with Roma’s executive board, and as a result he not only was stripped of the captaincy but also was left out of the past few games for the Lupi. However, he’s set to return for this clash against Juve – but could potentially remain on the bench, especially with Henrikh Mkhitaryan being in brilliant form lately. The former Dortmund and Manchester United man has been directly involved in 17 goals (nine goals, eight assists) and is currently his team’s top goalscorer, so has proven he can step up and contribute. In addition, Borja Mayoral, who’s been involved in eight goals (six goals, two assists) has proven to be a reliable back-up option up front, so Fonesca may not be entirely pressured to field Dzeko in this tie.
Finally, there could be an interesting derby of sorts taking place here. Roma recently signed young American international Bryan Reynolds, making the Texan the second player to join the Lupi and the eighth overall to feature in Italian football’s top flight. On the opposite end of the pitch is fellow Texan Weston McKennie, who made history by becoming the first American to sign for Juventus. It’s not likely that Reynolds will start, but who knows, he could be given some game-time. If Fonesca decides to throw him in, and McKennie, as expected, is also playing, it will be the first time two American internationals have been on the pitch at the same time in Serie A. We already saw this happen in the Champions League when Barcelona, with Sergino Dest, faced Juventus at the Camp Nou – and McKennie opened his account by scoring one of Juve’s three goals.
