Juventus vs Internazionale – Coppa Italia – Preview

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Sreya

Juventus will host Internazionale at the Juventus Stadium, Torino on 27th January, Wednesday for the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals. The latest edition of Derby d’Italia brings face to face two Serie A giants making a bid to reach the domestic cup finals.

Juventus defeated Lazio 1-0 in the quarter-finals after putting four goals past Torino in December. Internazionale had a more difficult route to the semi-finals as they had to face Serie A leaders Napoli in the quarter-finals. The Naples-based side was beaten 2-0 last week. Both sides are yet to concede a goal in this season’s Coppa Italia with Inter Milan winning 3-0 against Serie B side Cagliari in the third round.

In the Serie A however, these two sides have had contrasting seasons so far. While Roberto Mancini’s Inter Milan started strong, they have failed to win four of their last five matches in the league, dropping down to fourth position in league standings. Juventus, on the other hand, have recovered remarkably from their disastrous start by winning back-to-back matches and now on track for their fifth consecutive Scudetto.

Team News

Mario Lemina and Roberto Pereyra are still sidelined though injuries but Andrea Barzagli has been listed as a doubt for Juventus and could face a late fitness test. Inter Milan do not have any players absent due to injury or suspensions, so Roberto Mancini could field a full-strength side.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“We want to end the season this way on May 8 for the league, May 21 for the Coppa Italia and May 28 in the Champions League. We have a packed schedule ahead but we must stay level-headed. As I have always said, keeping your cool and focus is everything in football and the boys have maintained theirs brilliantly in the last few months.

It is a long season when you compete in as many competitions as we do and the most important thing is to ensure that we end it with one or two pieces of silverware to show for it.”

– Massimilano Allegri, Juventus.

“We must not forget this game because it will do us good in the future. If we had won the game we might have gone into the Juventus match overconfident and conceded four goals – that is much worse that being humble and working hard to produce a good performance.

Now we have an opportunity to do well away from home in the Derby d’Italia so we need to put the hard yards in. These moments happen and we need to show our intelligence.”

– Felipe Melo, Inter Milan.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, Juventus have won 42% of their matches against Internazionale. On current form, the Turin-based club are likely to go into the second leg with an advantage, a 2-0 win for Juventus being the most probable outcome for this fixture.