Juventus face Lazio challenge, struggling Milan visit Verona

MILAN: Juventus host Lazio on Saturday looking to keep touch with Serie A leaders Inter Milan before next week’s crunch Champions league game against Porto.

Andrea Pirlo’s side are third, with a game in hand, 10 points behind Inter who host Atalanta on Monday in a clash of the two highest-scoring teams in Serie A. At the beginning of the year, Milan was in first place in the league and hadn’t lost in 10 months. But the team are now six points behind league leader Inter ahead of Sunday’s tricky match at Hellas Verona.

AC Milan are second, six points adrift of Inter and four points ahead of Juventus after a last-gasp 1-1 draw against Udinese midweek.

The pressure is on Pirlo’s injury-hit Juventus to claim a 10th consecutive Serie A title.

The Turin giants are also trailing Portuguese side Porto 2-1 going into the second leg of the last 16 tie in Turin next week with success a priority in the elite European competition they last won 25 years ago.

Forward Paulo Dybala remains out injured with Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Juan Cuadrado and Arthur sidelined this week, while Matthijs de Ligt pulled up before the win over Spezia.

Pirlo will also be without young left-back Gianluca Frabotta, to a one-match ban, with midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur testing positive for coronavirus.

Juventus have won each of their last six home games in Serie A, keeping a clean sheet in their last four. But Lazio, who held Juve 1-1 in the reverse fixture, will be fresher after Torino failed to travel to Rome for this week’s game because of a coronavirus outbreak in the northern club.

Italian League fixtures (all times GMT): Saturday: Spezia vs Benevento (1400), Udinese vs Sassuolo (1700), Juventus vs Lazio (1945)

Sunday: AS Roma vs Genoa (1130), Crotone vs Torino, Fiorentina vs Parma, Hellas Verona vs AC Milan, (all 1400), Sampdoria vs Cagliari (1700), Napoli vs Bologna (1945) Monday: Inter Milan vs Atalanta (1945)