(ANSA) - Serie A gets its first major showdown of the season Sunday evening when Juventus and Inter Milan do battle here in the so-called 'Derby of Italy'.
The encounter promises to be an intriguing tussle between two star-studded sides in peak condition. Inter has only failed to win one league game so far - a 3-2 defeat in Palermo. It also has two wins under its belt in the Champions League group stage, after beating Glasgow Rangers 1-0 Wednesday.
Reigning champion Juventus, meanwhile, has made a perfect start to the campaign, winning its first seven games - five in Serie A and two in the Champions League, including Tuesday's 3-0 triumph over Rapid Vienna.
Juventus heads the Serie A standings with 15 points, but Inter is only three behind in second place.
"It's not a decisive match (for the scudetto) but it is a very important one because a win would enable us to join them at the top," said Inter coach Roberto Mancini.
"It would give us peace of mind and renewed confidence for the future. It would be much worse to have to catch them up." The only real problem for Inter of late has been its difficulty in putting away the many chances created. Mancini will be hoping the return of refreshed Brazilian striker Adriano, who was rested against Rangers, will help solve this problem.
Juve coach Fabio Capello will once again be faced with the glorious dilemma of choosing from his armoury of excellent forwards. Capello's preferred strike combination seems to be Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet - both of whom scored on Wednesday.
But the superb form of captain Alessandro Del Piero is making the decision difficult. What's more, Romanian international Adrian Mutu presented a strong case for a place with a goal against Rapid
too. Interestingly, the last time Juventus lost a match was against Inter, 0-1, in the Italian supercup in August.
That match was also played at Juve's home ground and the Neroazzurri are starting to grow fond of Turin's Delle Alpi Stadium. Inter came out on top in its league visit here last season and the year before that too. In fact, Inter owner Massimo Moratti was even brave enough to tempt fate and say he would "consider a victory in Turin normal, given that we always win here."
With its two main title rivals meeting each other, AC Milan will be confident of making up ground on at least one of them by beating lowly Reggina at home Sunday afternoon. Milan made a sluggish start to the season, securing just four points from its first three games.
It recovered last week with wins over Lazio and Treviso. It now has 10 points and shares fourth place with Fiorentina, Palermo and Lazio.
The 2004 champ still lacks the fluidity it displayed in previous campaigns though, something that was evident in Wednesday's hard-fought 2-2 draw against Schalke 04 in Germany. Nevertheless, Reggina - which picked up its first points of the season thanks to Sunday's 2-0 home win over Udinese - is not expected to cause an upset.
The surprise package of the season so far, Livorno, pays a visit to Tuscan rival Fiorentina which, aside from last week's 1-0 loss to Inter, is in good form too. Livorno is lying third with 11 points. It is unbeaten and has only conceded one goal. On Saturday evening Udinese welcomes back Italy striker Vincenzo Iaquinta for the visit of Rome's sky-blues Lazio.
The club temporarily froze Iaquinta out of the squad for refusing to agree to a contract extension after a 4-2 defeat to Fiorentina two Sundays ago. Udinese went on to lose the three matches disputed after his exclusion - including Tuesday's 4-1 thumping at the hands of Barcelona in the Champions League. So the management has wisely decided to bring its much-missed star back into the fold.
Lazio pulled off the performance of last weekend, coming back from two goals down to beat Palermo 4-2. The Sicilian side will want to bounce back from that with a home win over Empoli on Sunday afternoon, while Lazio's cross-town rival AS Roma plays host to Siena.
Silvio Baldini's first game in charge of Lecce will be a home tie against Cagliari. Lecce sacked former coach Angelo Gregucci on Monday after seeing the side secure just one point in five games.
There are three other Serie A matches this weekend: Ascoli-Parma, Messina-Sampdoria (both Sunday afternoon) and Chievo Verona-Treviso (Saturday evening).
