Another week, another key clash in Serie A, as Inter and Napoli will square off in Round 25. The Partenopei closed the gap after the Nerazzurri stunningly capitulated in the Derby, although they have a game in hand. Milan will seek to take advantage of the situation in a home game against Sampdoria, which just snapped out of a losing streak by destroying Sassuolo.
There will be a monumental clash behind the top three teams as well, as the struggling Atalanta will host Juventus, which leapfrogged them last week and have remained undefeated for a couple of months. The round will be opened by Lazio, who will try to bounce back after being blown out by Milan in Coppa Italia. They had done better in recent Serie A games, though. The Felsinei stopped the bleeding with a draw against Empoli last week. Roma will visit an undermanned Sassuolo Sunday.
Torino will try to lean on their strong home form to move on from a tough loss to Udinese and top the spiraling Venezia, which lost in five of their last six outings. Cagliari overtook the Lagunari and will bring their positive momentum versus Empoli, which have been coasting for some time. Verona will face Udinese at home, and both teams are in comfortable spots given their recent results. The most pivotal bout down low will pit the bottom two teams, Genoa and Salernitana, against each other in a survival of the fittest to determine who could have a chance to mount a comeback. Round 25 will be capped off by Spezia facing Fiorentina on Monday night. The Aquilotti are riding a four-game positive streak and Vincenzo Italiano will defy his past, eager to bounce back from the Lazio drubbing.
The last round and the Coppa Italia tilts have not been kind in terms of injuries. Duvan Zapata will miss months with a new major thigh problem, while Roger Ibanez will be sidelined for a while with a knee sprain. Hirving Lozano will be sidelined for at least a month with a shoulder sprain, Giorgio Chiellini for three or four weeks with yet another calf issue. Dennis Praet picked up a severe thigh injury.
LAZIO-BOLOGNA
Lazio (4-3-3): Strakosha; Lazzari/Hysaj, Luiz Felipe, Patric, Marusic; Milinkovic-Savic, Leiva, Luis Alberto; Pedro, Immobile, Zaccagni.
Ruled Out: Acerbi (thigh strain), Akpa Akpro (pneumonia).
Bologna (3-4-2-1): Skorupski; Soumaoro, Medel, Theate; Hickey, Schouten, Svanberg, Dijks; Soriano, Orsolini; Arnautovic.
Ruled Out: Dominguez (shoulder surgery), Santander (cheekbone fracture), Kingsley (fibula fracture).
Suspensions: De Silvestri.
NAPOLI-INTER
Napoli (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Koulibaly, Mario Rui; Fabian Ruiz, Lobotka; Politano, Zielinski, Insigne; Osimhen.
Ruled Out: Lozano (shoulder sprain), Tuanzebe (back pain).
Inter (3-5-2): Handanovic; Skriniar, De Vrij, Dimarco; Dumfries, Barella, Brozovic, Calhanoglu, Perisic; Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez.
Ruled Out: Gosens, Correa (thigh strains).
Suspensions: Bastoni.
TORINO-VENEZIA
Torino (3-4-2-1): Milinkovic-Savic; Djidji, Bremer, Rodriguez; Singo, Pobega, Linetty, Vojvoda; Pjaca, Brekalo; Sanabria.
Ruled Out: Fares, Edera (ACL tears).
Suspensions: Lukic, Mandragora.
Venezia (4-3-3): Lezzerini; Ampadu, Caldara, Svoboda, Haps; Cuisance, Busio, Crnigoj; Aramu, Henry, Okereke.
Ruled Out: Vacca (thigh strain), Lezzerini (personal), Mateju (COVID-19), Kiyine, Sigurdsson.
Suspensions: Ceccaroni, Ebuehi.
MILAN-SAMPDORIA
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Florenzi, Tomori, Romagnoli, Calabria; Bennacer, Tonali; Messias, Brahim Diaz, Leao; Giroud.
Potential changes: Tomori/Kalulu, Bennacer/Kessie, Messias/Saelemaekers.
Ruled Out: Ballo-Touré (groin strain), Kjaer (ACL tear), Ibrahimovic (Achilles’ soreness).
Suspensions: Hernandez.
Sampdoria (4-3-1-2) Falcone; Bereszynski, Ferrari, Colley, Murru; Candreva, Ekdal, Thorsby; Sensi; Quagliarella, Caputo.
Potential changes: Falcone/Audero, Ekdal/Rincon, Quagliarella/Supryaha.
Probable: Quagliarella (calf injury).
Ruled Out: Gabbiadini (ACL tear), Yoshida (thigh strain), Damsgaard (knee infection), Yoshida (thigh injury), Giovinco (calf injury), Askildsen.
EMPOLI-CAGLIARI
Empoli (4-3-1-2): Vicario; Stojanovic, Romagnoli, Viti, Parisi; Zurkowski, Asllani, Bandinelli; Henderson, Bajrami; Pinamonti.
Potential changes: Romagnoli/Ismajli, Asllani/Stulac, Henderson/Di Francesco.
Questionable: Luperto (thigh strain).
Ruled Out: Haas, Marchizza (ACL tears).
Cagliari (3-5-2): Cragno; Goldaniga, Lovato, Carboni; Bellanova, Marin, Grassi, Dalbert, Lykogiannis; Joao Pedro, Pereiro.
Potential changes: Lykogiannis/Baselli, Pereiro/Keita.
Probable: Zappa (COVID-19), Pavoletti (muscle fatigue)
Ruled Out: Strootman (knee surgery), Rog (ACL tear), Walukiewicz (femoroacetabular impingement), Ceter (knee injury), Nandez (knee contusion).
Suspensions: Deiola.
GENOA-SALERNITANA
Genoa (4-2-3-1): Sirigu; Hefti, Maksimovic, Vasquez, Criscito; Sturaro, Badelj; Ekuban, Amiri, Yeboah; Destro.
Potential changes: Vasquez/Cambiaso, Badelj/Rovella, Amiri/Portanova.
Probable: Rovella (thigh injury), Criscito (calf strain).
Ruled Out: Bani (thigh strain), Frendrup, Hernani, Ghiglione, Kallon.
Suspensions: Ostigard.
Salernitana (4-3-2-1): Sepe; Mazzocchi, Dragusin, Fazio, Ranieri; L.Coulibaly, Radovanovic, Kastanos; Ribery, Verdi; Djuric.
Potential changes: Kastanos/Ederson, Ribery/Bonazzoli, Djuric/Mousset.
Ruled Out: Strandberg (sports hernia surgery), M.Coulibaly, Ruggeri (thigh strains).
VERONA-UDINESE
Verona (3-4-2-1): Montipò; Casale, Gunter, Ceccherini; Faraoni, Tameze, Veloso, Lazovic; Barak, Lasagna; Simeone.
Potential changes: Faraoni/Depaoli, Veloso/Ilic, Lasagna/Caprari.
Probable: Caprari (ankle sprain), Faraoni (thigh pull).
Ruled Out: Dawidowicz (ACL tear), Pandur (shoulder injury), Frabotta (Achilles surgery)
Udinese (3-5-2): Silvestri; Becao, Mari, Zeegelaar; Molina, Walace, Jajalo, Makengo, Udogie; Deulofeu, Becao.
Potential changes: Mari/Nuytinck, Zeegelaar/Nehuen Perez, Walace/Soppy.
Questionable: Pereyra (collarbone surgery).
Ruled Out: Larsen (contractual dispute).
Suspensions: Arslan.
SASSUOLO-ROMA
Sassuolo (4-3-3): Consigli; Muldur, Chiriches, Ferrari, Rogerio; Frattesi, Maxime Lopez, Matheus Henrique; Berardi, Defrel, Traorè.
Potential changes: Muldur/Ruan, Kyriakopoulos/Rogerio, Matheus Henrique/Harroui.
Ruled Out: Obiang (pneumonia), Romagna (patellar tendon tear), Schiappacasse (legal problems), Djuricic (thigh injury), Toljan.
Suspensions: Scamacca, Raspadori.
Roma (4-2-3-1): Rui Patricio; Karsdorp, Mancini, Smalling, Maitland-Niles; Cristante, Sergio Oliveira; Mkhitaryan, Pellegrini, El Shaarawy; Abraham.
Potential changes: Maitland-Niles/Vina; Cristante/Veretout, El Shaarawy/Afena-Gyan.
Probable: Abraham (thigh soreness).
Ruled Out: Ibanez (MCL sprain), Spinazzola (Achilles’ tendon tear).
Suspensions: Zaniolo.
ATALANTA-JUVENTUS
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Sportiello; Toloi, Demiral, Djimsiti; Zappacosta, De Roon, Freuler, Maehle; Malinovskyi, Pessina; Muriel.
Potential changes: Sportiello/Rossi, Pessina/Pasalic, Malinovskyi/Boga.
Ruled Out: Ilicic (mental health issues), Zapata (thigh tendon tear), Miranchuk (thigh strain), Palomino (thigh injury).
Suspensions: Musso.
Juventus (4-3-3): Szczesny; Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Alex Sandro; Zakaria, Locatelli, Rabiot; Dybala, Vlahovic, Morata.
Potential changes: Alex Sandro/De Sciglio, Rabiot/McKennie, Dybala/Cuadrado.
Ruled Out: Chiesa (ACL tear), Chiellini (calf strain), Bernardeschi (thigh injury).
SPEZIA-FIORENTINA
Spezia (4-3-3): Provedel; Amian, Erlic, Nikolaou, Reca; Sala, Kiwior, Maggiore; Gyasi, Manaj, Verde.
Potential changes: Sala/Agudelo, Manaj/Nzola.
Questionable: Kovalenko (thigh soreness), Sher (hip injury).
Ruled Out: Bastoni (thigh strain), Sena (failed physical).
Fiorentina (4-3-3): Terracciano; Odriozola, Milenkovic, Martinez Quarta, Biraghi; Castrovilli, Amrabat, Duncan; Callejon, Cabral, Gonzalez.
Potential changes: Castrovilli/Maleh, Callejon/Ikoné, Cabral/Piatek.
Suspensions: Bastoni, Torreira.