Juventus regained some lost ground last weekend when latest recruit Alessandro Matri scored a brace in a 3-1 win against his old club Cagliari to help the Bianconeri revive their hopes of a top-four finish at the end of the season.

With very few pundits now risking their money on an unlikely Juve scudetto this season, and the early exits from the Europa League and Coppa Italia, attaining a Champions League berth is Juve’s remaining objective this season.

They started the campaign full of promises but a rather poor take-off left them with a mountain to climb. Indeed, Juve were never really involved in the title race this season with Milan running the show and outsiders Napoli and Lazio leading the chase, along with champions Inter.

The 11 points which at present separate Juve from the Rossoneri say it all.

This time last season, Juventus had just changed coach as Alberto Zaccheroni took over from Ciro Ferrara, now the Italy U-21 mentor.

With Ferrara around, Juve had garnered 33 points in 21 games.

Things went even worse under Zaccheroni, who has just led Japan to victory in the Asian Cup, as his team only managed 22 points until the end of the 2009-10 season.

Despite signing various players of note, Juve did not improve under ex-Chievo trainer Gigi Delneri as their current 38 points in 24 games amply shows. Consequently, the possibilities that Juve will not make a top-four finish for the second year running became all the more realistic.

As things stand, seven teams – Milan (49 points), Napoli (46), Inter (44), Lazio (42), Palermo, Udinese (40 each) and Roma (39) – lie above Juventus. Inter and Roma have a game in hand.

There are clear indications that Milan, Napoli and Inter will contend the ultimate accolade – the scudetto – whereas Juventus will have to compete with the other four teams vying for a Champions League spot.

Lately, Udinese looked to have clicked into gear and if they succeed in keeping up this frentic pace they stand a good chance of finishing ahead of Juventus in the final standings as well.

But to Juve’s advantage is the fact that there are still 14 games left to play, including several direct encounters (on Sunday Juve host rivals Inter in Turin).

Moreover, Milan, Inter, Roma and Napoli will have to endure the double challenge of the Serie A and the Euro club competitions when the Champions League and the Europa League resume later next week.

But this is scant consolation for Juventus who, since the turn of the year, have only collected seven points in seven games.

This year, they were beaten at their own backyard by Parma (1-4) and Udinese (1-2), in the Serie A, and by Roma (0-2) in the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.

In the same period, Inter won seven and lost one (21 points); Udinese won five and drew two (17 points); Napoli won four, drew one and lost two (13 points); Palermo won four, drew one and lost two (13 points); Milan won three and drew four (13 points); Roma won three, drew one and lost two (10 points); and Lazio won two, drew three and lost two (nine points).

If this eight-team mini-league (starting from January) was to determine the four participants in the next Champions League, then Juventus would be bottom of the class. Surely, not a position the club’s hierarchy had predicted when the season’s strategy was being discussed in summer.

Serie A statistics

1st win for Juventus after back-to-back defeats (vs Udinese 1-2 and Palermo 1-2) and a goalless away draw at Sampdoria as the Bianconeri cruised to a comprehensive 3-1 away win at Cagliari. This was Juve’s third success in their last four visits to the Sant’Elia Stadium. The last time these two sides shared the spoils was in April 2006 (1-1). Cagliari have not drawn a single game since new coach Roberto Donadoni took over from Pierpaolo Bisoli on the 13th day – seven wins and five defeats.

3 penalties were taken last weekend – all scored. Alessandro Diamanti made no mistake from the spot to break the deadlock for Brescia against Bari. Inter’s Samuel Eto’o completed his double by converting a 63rd-minute penalty against Roma. Elsewhere, Gaetano D’Agostino’s perfect execution was enough for Fiorentina to salvage a draw against Parma. Of the 64 penalties awarded by referees so far, 19 went off-target.

3 wins and four draws... Milan’s modest record since the turn of the year. Last weekend, the long-time leaders threw away an early lead to share the spoils with Genoa for the first time since February 1995 (1-1). The Rossoneri have not conquered Genoa’s Luigi Ferraris Stadium since August 2007 (3-0).

4 points in two games collected by Brescia since coach Giuseppe Iachini’s return. On Sunday, they scored a goal in each half to hand bottom side Bari a sixth straight defeat. Napoli bounced back from their midweek away defeat to Chievo with a convincing 2-0 home success over Cesena. The visitors are winless in their last six outings (three draws and three defeats). Napoli are undefeated at home since going down to Milan (1-2) on the eighth day.

7th positive result on the trot (five wins and two draws) for Udinese who scored twice before the break to inflict a third straight defeat on crisis-hit Sampdoria following the previous league upsets to Napoli (0-4) and Cagliari (0-1). Overall Sampdoria are winless in their last five outings.

31 goals were scored on the 24th day of the season, 18 coming from the hosts and the remaining 13 from the visiting teams. Foreigners contributed with 17 goals and there were 15 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 566. Six players – Simone Loria (Roma), Andrea Caracciolo (Brescia), Luca Toni (Juventus), Jose Ernesto Sosa (Napoli), Abel Hernandez and Josip Ilicic (both Palermo) – came on as substitutes and scored. Edinson Cavani is still the leading marksman with 18 goals.

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