Last Time Out:
Juventus defeated Genoa 3-1; Atalanta edged Fiorentina 3-2.
Previous Meeting:
The sides drew 1-1 on Dec. 16 at Allianz Stadium in Turin.
About the Matchup:
The Juventus stranglehold on Serie A is almost at its end, with Inter Milan 12 points clear of Juve with eight matches to play. Juventus has won the last nine titles in the Italian league, but this time, the Zebras are going to have to fight just to win a spot in the Champions League. With eight matches left, Juve finds itself in a four-way dogfight with AC Milan, Napoli, and this week’s opponent Atalanta, as the four sides are competing for three slots behind Inter to play in next year’s Champions League. Fifth place goes to the Europa League, which would represent a major failure in the eyes of Juventus supporters.
For Atalanta, there’s only opportunity here. La Dea enters this match in excellent form, having won four in a row, and the only side to beat them in their past nine was Inter, which claimed a 1-0 decision over Atalanta on March 8. Otherwise, Atalanta has been piling up the points in hopes of making a third straight appearance in the Champions League. There was a time when the thought of Atalanta in the Champions League was borderline fiction, but La Dea is now a club that is truly competitive across Europe and would love nothing more than to drop Juve to the Europa League after so many years of being tortured by the Old Lady.
Scouting Juventus:
Ever since he arrived in Turin, Juve’s attack has basically started and ended with Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star is still as outstanding as ever at age 36, scoring five goals in Juve’s last five Serie A matches. In a win last month over Cagliari, Ronaldo was all of the offense needed, scoring a hat trick in 32 minutes in a 3-1 triumph. For the year, he has 25 goals, and he remains one of the few players in the world capable of completely turning a match around whenever the ball touches his foot.
However, Ronaldo cannot do everything, and the Zebras’ poor defensive record shows that. Juve has allowed at least one goal in each of its past six matches, and the last time the Zebras managed a clean sheet away from Allianz Stadium was Jan. 30, when they managed to shut out an inconsistent Sampdoria. That’s also the only time all season that Juventus has managed a shutout away from home in Serie A, as they’ve played 14 matches away from home and have given up 15 away goals on the season.
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Scouting Atalanta:
A pair of Colombians are doing the damage for Italy’s most potent attack, as Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata have formed an excellent partnership that’s led Atalanta to put home 71 goals in 30 games. Lately, it’s Zapata doing most of the scoring, as he’s scored four goals in La Dea’s past three matches. Muriel has spread his scoring out over the season, scoring 18 goals to date. As a team, Atalanta has stepped up its scoring at home as of late, scoring three goals or more in each of its past five home matches. Part of that is because most of the past five games haven’t been against stellar competition (Napoli is the only one that’s currently in the top half of the standings), but an effective attack is an effective attack no matter who it comes against. But like Juve, Atalanta’s back four leaves something to be desired. The past six Atalanta matches at home have seen both sides score, meaning no lead is truly safe with this side.
Dan’s Score Prediction:
As badly as Atalanta want to get this one and move ahead of Juventus with so little time left in the season, I don’t see it happening here. The Zebras are just strong enough to get the goals they need to get something out of this match and keep both teams in the top four. I’ll take this match to produce a fair amount of goals without a winner and back a 2-2 draw at +1050.