Juve risk disaster as Serie A's Champions League race goes down to the wire / Photo: Marco BERTORELLO - AFP/File
Juve risk disaster as Serie A's Champions League race goes down to the wire
Juventus' season is at risk of turning into a disaster ahead of Sunday's fraught Turin derby which could end with their absence from next season's Champions League.
In one of Europe's most one-sided derbies Juve have not lost to Torino in 11 years but the pressure is on for a victory over their local rivals whose mid-table position in Italy's top flight does not reflect their ability to make things difficult for the big guns.
Juve had looked set for a top-four finish but a damaging 2-0 home defeat to Fiorentina has left Luciano Spalletti's team sixth and needing a helping hand to reach the Champions League even with a win over Torino.
Spalletti was hired in October with Juve in seventh to ensure the club's objective for the season, and missing out on Champions League money will have a big impact on movements in the close season.
Two points separate Juve from fourth-placed Roma, who head to relegated Verona, and AC Milan who sit third ahead of their match with Cagliari at the San Siro.
Also in Juve's way are fifth-placed Como, who host Cremonese in a match which will have a say in both the Champions League race and who will go down down to Serie B with Pisa and Verona.
Jamie Vardy's Cremonese sit just inside the drop zone, one point behind Lecce who welcome Genoa.
Milan were deep in crisis before last weekend's key win at Genoa put the seven-time European champions in pole position to return to Europe's top club competition, with Cagliari having ensured safety last weekend.
Over 70,000 fans are set to pack the San Siro and generate a radically different atmosphere to the last time their team played at home, when the stands emptied in protest at going three goals down against Atalanta.
That defeat caused Milan's owner Gerry Cardinale to publicly defend himself from fan criticism of him being more interested in profits than on-field results, hinting big changes are expected this summer.
Antonio Conte is set to take charge of his last Napoli match on Sunday in one of the weekend's five dead rubbers, with Udinese rolling south to Naples with nothing to play for.
Napoli secured Champions League football last weekend and Conte is widely expected to leave southern Italy's biggest club for a second spell in charge of the country's beleaguered national team.
The name of the new Italy coach will only be made public after the election of a new football federation president on June 22, a couple of weeks after friendlies with Luxembourg and Greece.
Player to watch: Luka Modric
Star midfielder Modric was expected to miss the rest of the Serie A season after suffering a fractured cheekbone in a clash of heads with Juve midfielder Manuel Locatelli last month.
But less than a month after surgery on the injury, which at the time AFP was told would keep him out of action until this summer's World Cup, Modric is near-certain to start at the San Siro.
The Croatia captain has been training this week with a face mask and, save for any accidents, he will be in Allegri's starting XI against Cagliari.
Modric has an option to stay on at Milan for one more season after what will be the 40-year-old's last World Cup.
Key stats
2 - The number of points separating the four contenders for the two remaining Champions League spots.
7 - It's been seven seasons since Roma last qualified for the Champions League.
Fixtures (times GMT)
Friday
Fiorentina v Atalanta (1845)
Saturday
Bologna v Inter (1600), Lazio v Pisa (1845)
Sunday
Parma v Sassuolo (1300), Napoli v Udinese (1600), Cremonese v Como, Lecce v Genoa, AC Milan v Cagliari, Torino v Juventus, Verona v Roma (all 1845)
E.Steiner--HHA
