Sunday’s matches will bring the curtains down on the 2011/12 Serie A campaign.
The title race was decided last weekend as leaders Juventus overcame Cagliari in Trieste to open an unassailable four-point lead over outgoing champions Milan who got beaten in the derby by Inter.
On Sunday, Juventus should make home soil count when hosting mid-table side Atalanta and finish the season undefeated.
It has been a truly remarkable campaign for the Turin giants, particularly coach Antonio Conte who succeeded in following in the footsteps of Marcello Lippi by winning the Scudetto in his debut season on the Bianconeri bench.
Udinese, the second-oldest Italian club after Genoa, are strong favourites to finish third and play in the Champions League next season.
On Sunday, the northeasterners did not find it difficult to beat troubled Genoa 2-0 at home and now they occupy the third place all by themselves.
Francesco Guidolin’s men started the day level on points with Napoli.
However, the Coppa Italia finalists wasted a series of chances and eventually were beaten by Bologna 2-0 at the Dall’Ara stadium in veteran Marco Di Vaio’s farewell game before his move to Canada.
Udinese have a tricky away fixture at Catania coming up. The Sicilians currently occupy a trouble-free mid-table spot and do not have anything to play for. However, it is always difficult to beat them in Sicily.
Udinese have largely built their successful campaign at their own Friuli stadium where they only dropped 14 points in 19 matches.
On the road, however, Udinese were less inspired and managed a meagre four wins.
Given that fourth-placed Lazio are currently two points adrift and have a less favourable head-to-head record with Udinese, a draw should be enough for Udinese to make it to the third qualify round of the 2012/13 Champions League even if the Romans overcome Inter on Sunday evening.
If Udinese finish third, it would be their second successive Champions League qualification after last season’s fourth-place finish.
This is a huge feat for the club considering that last summer they parted with their best three players in Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona), Gokhan Inler (Napoli) and Christian Zapata (Villarreal).
Fifth-placed Napoli, who trail Udinese by three points, are still with an outside chance.
The southerners need to beat Siena at home and hope Catania halt Udinese and Lazio do not beat Inter. In the event that Napoli and Udinese finish level on points, then Napoli will qualify for the Champions League thanks to a better head-to-head record.
Napoli will have a great opportunity to finish the season on a high on May 20 as they take on Juventus in the Coppa Italia final.
This will be Napoli’s first appearance in the showdown in 15 years.
The third side in the Europa League should be Inter.
The nerazzurri, who completed an impressive double over city rivals Milan last weekend, are five points clear of nearest pursuers Roma and Parma.
Inter still stand a small chance of finishing third but all depends on the results elsewhere.
An away win at Lazio could still not be enough for Inter to finish behind Milan.
At the wrong side of the table, Genoa need only one point from their home fixture against Palermo to make sure of survival irrespective of what Lecce do in their away match at Chievo.
At present, Genoa are three points clear of third-bottom Lecce in the standings.
Sunday’s programme
15.00 Juventus vs Atalanta; Milan vs Novara; Fiorentina vs Cagliari.
18.00 Cesena vs Roma; Parma vs Bologna.
20.45 Chievo vs Lecce; Genoa vs Palermo; Napoli vs Siena; Catania vs Udinese; Lazio vs Inter.