Which of these sides can emerge to challenge Inter for the Scudetto? That is one of the many questions waiting to be answered when Juventus and Milan collide in one of the biggest games of the season on Sunday.

On the face of it this is a fight to be the ‘anti-Inter’, but this fixture has many more layers than that.

There’s the fact that Ciro Ferrara desperately needs a result to save his own skin with Guus Hiddink reportedly ready to step into his place.

The Juve board have been the subject of protest lately, and will also face some serious scrutiny if the Bianconeri are ejected from the title race so early.
Don’t forget Milan’s hunger to assume title contender status either – they haven’t finished any higher than third since 2005.

Regardless of all this the many years of rivalry between these great clubs mean that any game at any time between the two will be fiercely competitive.

The mathematics of the situation are thus. Inter are top with 42 points, Milan second with 34 but a game in hand, Juventus third with 33.

In terms of form Milan are the clear favourites. Both teams returned from the winter break and won, but whereas the Bianconeri scraped a fortuitous three points in Parma thanks to an own goal the Rossoneri turned a tricky looking fixture against Genoa into a romp.

They were simply breathtaking at times going forward, and could even afford to miss a penalty in the 5-2 win. With Marco Borriello and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar both netting on Wednesday, David Beckham having returned on loan, Ronaldinho in form and youngsters Luca Antonini and Ignazio Abate impressing at full back, Milan have more options across the field than they have had for some time.

Juventus pulled off a resounding victory in this fixture last season. Goals from Alessandro Del Piero, Giorgio Chiellini and Amauri with a brace gave them a 4-2 win at a drenched Stadio Olimpico.

The onus will be on Amauri again in the absence of the injured Vincenzo Iaquinta and David Trezeguet. With these strikers out Ferrara is likely to rely on the 4-4-1-1 system again, meaning his job rests to a large extent on the performance of struggling trequartista Diego.

Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi and Momo Sissoko (African Cup of Nations) are also unavailable.

Milan’s Alexandre Pato, Massimo Oddo, Gianluca Zambrotta and Clarence Seedorf are struggling with injuries.

Keep an eye on: Marco Borriello (Milan) – All eyes will be on Beckham of course, although the man his crosses are most likely to find is in fine form also. Borriello was magnificent against Genoa and may have an Azzurri recall in mind.

Last five in Serie A: Juventus (L W L L W) Milan (W W W L W)

Last season: Juventus 4-2 Milan

Juventus (probable): Manninger; Grygera, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Grosso; Salihamidzic, Felipe Melo, Poulsen, Marchisio; Diego, Amauri

Milan (probable): Dida; Abate, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Antonini; Gattuso, Ambrosini, Pirlo; Beckham, Borriello, Ronaldinho

Ref: To follow...

Well we only have the one fit striker, and it is Amauri (lol) so we go with the horrible 4-4-1-1 formation seen against Parma. At least it might stifle Milan I guess, we might even see a decent performance as it is a big game and we usually do well at home to Milan, but right now I wouldn't favour Juve to win any match Milan are also looking pretty good, so it should be interesting. If we lose then Ferrara is probably gone, and apparently his replacement is already lined up.

The three Brazilians must play better for us to win!

I am going to put money on Milan winning this one.

Giovinco is out for a month as well now, so we have just an unfit Del Piero and a youth team striker as backup scoring options to a striker who can't score, great stuff.

ill be rooting for Milan in this one. cant predict who will win it though and dont think it will end in a draw.

looking forward to this game,I'm glad its the late game,hope to catch it

Can't watch it as it's very late Japanese time. Juve may well up their game significantly so I expect it will either be very close or a Milan win by 2 or 3. Pato, Seedorf and Zambrotta out so it will be the same team that beat Genoa which is good as it offers a very stable midfield. It's a shame both sides have important players out, Juve are worse off of course.

thought you were in NYC

Visiting my girlfriend in Japan atm.

how nice ,she lives there ?

Yeah, she's living in Yokohama for a tear.

The Milan squad:

Dida, Roma, Storari,
Antonini, Bonera, Favalli, Jankulovski, Kaladze, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Abate,
Ambrosini, Beckham, Flamini, Gattuso, Pirlo,
Borriello, Di Gennaro, Huntelaar, Inzaghi, Ronaldinho.

Giocatori indisponibili: Abbiati, Oddo, Onyewu, Zambrotta, Seedorf, Pato.

Pato/seedorf injured then

This is live on ESPN tonight, I should be watching. I think Milan will take this, they were impressive against Genoa and Juve have their injury problems.

2-1 Milan.

Seems Juve will not have a good result tonight... So bad the match will begin too late at my city : 2:45am... So I will have a sleepy Monday morning at work...

Subs: Chimenti, Zebina, Legrottaglie, De Ceglie, Marrone, Del Piero, Immobile

Unavailable: Iaquinta, Sissoko, Buffon, Camoranesi, Trezeguet, Giovinco

Suspended: Caceres


Basically we don't have anything to come off the bench, unless Del Piero can nick a freekick or something, so the guys on the pithc have to do it. Horrible formation that isolates Amauri, but there is nothing else to choose. Fucking sick of our injury situation tbh, we will never do anything in this league until we have a season where we don't have at least 3 key players out at any one time.

I think we will put in a better performance than of late but our confidence is still pretty poor and we have guys who decide a game missing so who knows what will happen. The bonus is that at home to Milan we often do well, we normally out fight Milan in Turin.

whos Immobile been wanting to ask this question for a long time

Youth team striker we picked up when he was 16 or so, think it was from Lucchese. He has been banging in the goals for the Primavera and looks a good prospect, but come on, if we are asking him to come on in this game we might be in trouble

looking forward to see Immobile for the first time today then

the funny thing too is that i thought u were calling a player in the juve squad by the term immobile because of their lack of movement or smth

It means the same but is pronounced Im-mo-bee-lay

No, he isn't slow

Diego interview ahead of the match (for his Diego10 channel): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB8s17MgxSU...player_embedded

Didn't even realise he spoke English.

Hoping for a Juve win so we don't have to suffer the british media over-drive for "Saint Beckham"

Unfortunately he is against Grosso who will give him lots of room, so he will probably have a decent match.

Oh God that is horrible lol. At least Milan have two weaker fullbacks. Oh wait, we have no wingers Bring PDC on to torment them again!

There should be an interesting duel between Pirlo and Felipe Melo, to see who can hold onto the ball the longest before they lose it.

Diego Chance Min.13
Click Here for Video

1-0 to Milan
Nesta

Fuck this, I'm not watching the rest of this match, fucking pathetic defending YET AGAIN.

Melo is a useless fat shit, he can fuck off. Just look at the useless bastard on that goal. Juve were doing ok before that, but it's fucking pathetic defending every game. I don't care if we win I can't watch any more of this garbage it's a disgrace to the fucking shirt.

commentator for FSC just said Juve 0 and Milan 0

juve arent creating anything right now, i cant see how they can get back into this game. Milan is controlling well the game

he must be a closet inter or smth

what a miss by Juve

DP coming on

I haven't watched most of it, but what do we expect with a 4-4-1-1 with no wingers and no support for the striker. We conceded a comedy goal and then still kept playing for a 0-0 afterwards

Poulsen injured now Whoever is writing this script can eat shit and die.

Del Piero is practising for his future career as an NFL kicker by the looks of it.

0-2, Ronaldinho the greatest player ever.

Bye Ciro, better luck next time. Juve hadn't lost in 8 or 9 games against Milan up until this feeble effort, even with a weaker team on paper in the past.

Diego has worked his ass off, but it's a clueless effort. Just embarassing stuff.

Ronaldinho scores a header from a corner

it was deflected

0-2

As if a sentence was ever required to highlight bad defending.

Juve fans leaving the stadium

Probably writing the banners as we speak.

Juve fouling a lot

De Ceglie looked more like the scorer of the second, in the end.

This is pretty much rock bottom, this is as bad as it has been since 1999. Forget Serie B, that was nothing to do with the technical side, this is terrible.

there is a fire in the stadium