adminMILAN. — Juventus return to the defence of their Italian Serie A soccer title tomorrow when they host Sassuolo looking to pull further ahead of Roma and Napoli and forget their Champions League misery.Antonio Conte’s side crashed out of the Champions League group stages on Wednesday after a 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in Istanbul, although the circumstances meant it was a bitter pill to swallow for the Italian giants.
The sides’ Group B fixture on Tuesday was stopped after 31 minutes due to heavy snow. The remaining 59 minutes were played on Wednesday, but on a pitch that was virtually unplayable. Juventus, who tried in vain to have the match postponed further, eventually succumbed to an 85th minute strike by Wesley Sneijder to finish third in the group and drop into the Europa League.
With the 2014 final being played at Juventus Stadium in May, Conte admitted they will soon turn their focus to Europe’s second tier club competition.
But the immediate priority is to win the two games before Christmas, against Sassuolo tomorrow and away to Atalanta next week.
Fixtures
Today: Catania v Verona (9:45pm)
Tomorrow: Chievo v Sampdoria, Fiorentina v Bologna, Genoa v Atalanta, Lazio v Livorno, Parma v Cagliari, Udinese v Torino (all 5pm), Juventus v Sassuolo (7:30pm), Napoli v Inter (9:45pm)
Monday: Milan v Roma (9:45pm) — AFP.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu