Juventus and Inter Milan go head-to-head at the Allianz Stadium in the penultimate round of the 2020/21 Serie A fixtures on Saturday late afternoon. It’s been 11 years since the sides last met in these circumstances, with the Nerazzurri bringing Juve’s decade-long tenure in Italy to a halt.
Andrea Pirlo could be counting his final days in Turin as Antonio Conte looks to pour more misery on his former employers. The Bianconeri have not only surrendered the Serie A title, but they also face the imminent danger of missing out on Champions League football for the first time since 2011/12.
Juventus vs. Inter Milan Head-To-Head
Inter’s 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture means they could secure back-to-back Serie A wins over Juventus for the first time since 2003/04. Furthermore, the last time the Nerazzurri managed to register a shutout against the arch-rivals in consecutive league matches was back in the 1994/9 season.
However, the newly-crowned champions have drawn a blank in five successive Serie A trips to Turin (D1, L4) since drawing 1-1 in January 2015. Curiously, the last time Juventus lost a home league game against Inter was under Conte back in November 2012, with Diego Milito’s brace and Rodrigo Palacio’s strike firing the visitors to a 3-1 triumph.
Teams Recent Forms
Juventus responded to a disastrous 3-0 defeat to AC Milan in sublime fashion, beating Sassuolo 3-1 on the road last time out. The hosts are currently one point off fourth-placed Napoli and can ill-afford to make any mistake here.
None of Juve’s 12 home Serie A fixtures since the turn of 2021 have ended in a draw (W10, L2), with 83.33% of those matches featuring a winning/losing margin of 2+ goals. Following their 3-0 thumping at the hands of Milan, the Bianconeri are staring at the prospect of suffering back-to-back home league defeats for the first time since March 2011.
Not as impenetrable as they used to be in some previous years, Pirlo’s men have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 13 outings in all competitions, last going longer without a shutout in 1955. Particularly vulnerable after the break, they have recorded a clear majority (68.75%) of their total Serie A goals conceded at home this season in the second half of play (11/16).
On the other hand, the visitors have run riot in Serie A since succumbing to a 2-1 away loss to Sampdoria in early January, racking up an intimidating 20-match unbeaten league streak. Free-scoring Inter have netted a league third-high 34 goals away from home this Serie A season, with 67.65% of those strikes arriving in the second half of play.
Equally impressive at the back, Conte’s men have preserved a blank sheet in five of their last nine road trips across all competitions, conceding precisely once per game in the other four.
Players To Watch
Since swapping Real Madrid for Juventus in summer 2018, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored just once in his four Serie A meetings with Inter. However, the 36-year-old was decisive when the sides met in the Coppa Italia semi-finals in January, notching the first-leg brace to propel his team to the final.
Romelu Lukaku, who has tallied 22 Serie A goals this season, is looking to open his account against Juventus, having failed to hit the net in any of his four competitive matches against the Bianconeri.
Predicted Line-ups
Juventus (3-5-2): Samir Handanovic; Alessandro Bastoni, Stefan De Vrij, Milan Skriniar; Ashley Young, Christian Eriksen, Nicolo Barella, Marcelo Brozovic, Achraf Hakimi; Lautaro Martinez, Romelu Lukaku
Inter Milan (4-4-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Alex Sandro, Leonardo Bonucci, Matthijs De Ligt, Juan Cuadrado; Federico Chiesa, Rodrigo Bentancur, Adrien Rabiot, Weston McKennie; Paulo Dybala, Cristiano Ronaldo