Fabio Quagliarella says champions Juventus will be fired up for the trip to newly-promoted Pescara tomorrow despite lining up for their third game in the space of a week.
Quagliarella is vying with several top Juve strikers for more playing time this season but came off the bench on Wednesday to score the fourth goal in a 4-0 Champions League rout of Danish champions Nordsjaelland.
As well as boosting Juve’s knockout phase chances, the win ended a nine-game streak of draws in Europe and made amends for a first defeat in 50 games after the Turin giants lost to Inter last Saturday.
Quagliarella’s chances of playing are slim as Juve are set to welcome back striker Mirko Vucinic following a short absence.
But Quagliarella said: “Playing every three days means there’s no time to look back, the defeat along with Wednesday victory are now firmly behind us. We’re all looking ahead to Pescara.”
Inter’s 3-1 win at Juventus reduced the Nerazzurri’s deficit to Juventus to just one point.
Tomorrow, Andrea Stramaccioni’s side, however, face another black and blue outfit in Atalanta who showed last week, in a 2-1 win away to Sampdoria, that they can cause surprises.
That is not all 36-year-old Stramaccioni has to deal with, however.
Inter have nine players injured but were in good heart in the Europa League with a 3-1 win over Partizan Belgrade on Thursday night.
But the youngest coach in Serie A is keeping a mature head on his shoulders.
“Our heads aren’t spinning after the win against Juventus,” Stramaccioni said.
“Obviously Saturday’s victory gave us confidence... but we’ve only played 11 matches and all it takes is one or two bad results for us to find ourselves back where we were before.”
The big match for football lovers tomorrow is between two teams unlikely to be involved in scudetto contention next May: Lazio and Roma.
Lazio host the derby at their shared ground of the Olimpico but do so with perhaps more pressure than their city rivals.
Their strong start has frittered away in recent weeks, culminating in a 4-0 humiliation away to Catania last week. Coming a week after a 1-1 draw at home to Torino, Lazio now sit fifth with a nine-point deficit on Juventus.
Roma go into the derby on the back of a 4-1 thrashing of Palermo, a soothing result for the Giallo-rossi given their two previous matches ended in 3-2 defeats, to Parma and Udinese, despite having held an early lead.
Asked if Roma are favourites, coach Zdenek Zeman’s promptly put the pressure on Lazio.
“It’s usually the opposite... the team that loses wants to make up for it in the derby,” said the veteran Czech coach.
Embattled Milan, meanwhile, face yet another test of their character when they host a Fiorentina side that has climbed to fourth place thanks to amassing 13 points from a possible 15 in their last five matches.
While Milan sit in 10th place on 14 points, half that of leaders Juve, Fiorentina’s last defeat was by 2-1 to Inter at the San Siro.
The Viola, however, will be without star striker Stevan Jovetic who faces at least 10 days out due to injury.
Fixtures
Serie A
Playing Today
Cagliari Vs Catania 18.00
Pescara Vs Juventus 20.45
Tomorrow – 15.00
Atalanta Vs Inter 20.45
Milan Vs Fiorentina
Chievo Vs Udinese
Genoa Vs Napoli
Lazio Vs Roma
Palermo Vs Sampdoria 12.30
Parma Vs Siena
Torino Vs Bologna
Standings: Juventus 28; Inter 27; Napoli 23; Fiorentina 21; Lazio 19; Roma 17; Catania, Parma, Atalanta (-2) 15; Milan, Udinese, Cagliari 14; Torino (-1), Pescara 11; Sampdoria (-1), Chievo 10; Genoa 9; Bologna, Palermo 8; Siena (-6) 6.
Serie B
Played Yesterday
Grosseto Vs Spezia1-1
Today – 15.00
Ascoli Vs Livorno
Cesena Vs Brescia
Cittadella Vs Vicenza
Crotone Vs Empoli
Juve Stabia Vs Lanciano
Pro Vercelli Vs Modena
Sassuolo Vs Novara
Ternana Vs Verona
Varese Vs Padova
Monday – 20.45
Bari Vs Reggina
Standings: Sassuolo 31; Verona 28; Livorno 26; Cittadella 20; Padova (-2), Spezia 19; Modena (-2), Juve Stabia, Brescia 18; Varese (-1) 17; Ternana 16; Ascoli (-1), Empoli (-1) 15; Cesena 13; Bari (-7), Vicenza, Lanciano 12; Cro-Tone (-2), Pro Vercelli 11; Novara (-4), Reggina (-3) 10; Grosseto (-6) 7.