Serie A leaders Inter Milan and third-placed Juventus meet Saturday night in what has long been known as ''the derby of Italy'' - a game which has gained fresh spice as the first on-field meeting between coaching rivals Jose' Mourinho and Claudio Ranieri.
The nationwide rivalry between the clubs has been intense since they first started battling for titles in the early 1900s and the level of animosity often comes close to city derbies like Roma-Lazio, AC Milan-Inter, Juve-Torino and Genoa-Sampdoria.
Feelings ran higher when Inter were awarded Juve's Serie A crown following the 2006 Calciopoli scandal and the Milanese club added insult to injury by poaching Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Patrick Vieira as penalty-hit Juve headed for Serie B.
Some scores were settled with Juve's win last year - although Inter went on to win their third straight title - but tensions have risen ahead of this year's first clash as Mourinho and Ranieri have sparred in the media.
Mourinho appeared to claim Ranieri, his predecessor at their old club Chelsea, hadn't learned enough English in his two seasons at the London club.
He was also accused of implying Ranieri was too old to handle a big club.
The pair spoke amicably enough in their first encounter at an Italian coaches' get-together earlier this week and Ranieri was highly complimentary in the press Thursday, calling Mourinho ''a phenomenon'' and ''a great communicator''.
''The fact that all his players speak well of him means he has a great rapport (with them),'' Ranieri told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
Asked if he would get a bigger kick out of beating Mourinho's side than he did when Juve got the better of Roberto Mancini's outfit a year ago, Ranieri replied:
''No. But we'd make millions of Juventus fans happy like last year. That's where my satisfaction would lie, all there''.
Mourinho will be without banned Ivan Cordoba in the centre of defence so he is expected to call in Marco Materazzi alongside Walter Samuel to counter the threat of Amauri and Alessandro Del Piero.
For Juve, Italy defensive pairing Nicola Legrottaglie and Giorgio Chiellini will try to muzzle Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Second-placed AC Milan, one point behind Inter and two points clear of Juve, will be hoping for an 'Italian derby' draw to have a chance of topping Serie A with a win at Torino.
Fourth-placed Napoli, a point behind Juve, host a Cagliari whose excellent recent run has lifted them from bottom to joint 12th.
Lazio, with one point less than Napoli after losing the Rome derby, entertain joint-8th Genoa while Fiorentina, also 8th, host joint-6th Udinese in the early Saturday game.
Roma, still in joint 16th, 16 points behind Inter, travel to Lecce who are one point and one place above them.
Joint-12th Sampdoria, who like Roma have yet to recoup the game in hand they earned after an Olimpico deluge last month, host joint-6th Catania.
