Italy will come to a standstill on Sunday evening, as Serie A heavyweights Inter Milan and Juventus step into the ring for an eagerly-awaited Derby d'Italia.
The teams convene at San Siro, with reigning champions Inter leading a revived Juve by one point in the standings.
Match preview
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Reprising a rivalry that began back in November 1909, the two clubs with most Scudetti to their name in Serie A history meet again this weekend, with Inter aiming to keep old foes Juventus at arm's length following a brief period of supremacy.
The Nerazzurri have twice been crowned champions and beaten Juve to Coppa Italia and Supercoppa glory since the Bianconeri's relentless run of success abruptly ended in 2021.
Stretching back to last term's title win, Simone Inzaghi's side will come into the teams' latest contest having lost just one of their last 19 home fixtures in Serie A - against city rivals AC Milan in September - and they have posted five wins on the spin since that lone defeat.
Most recently, Inter recorded a last-gasp Champions League victory over Young Boys on Wednesday evening; following an opening draw at Manchester City and a 4-0 victory over Red Star Belgrade, that leaves them in good shape to make the top eight.
All told, the second-city giants have lost only once in 11 matches this season, and they had embarked for Bern on the back of beating Roma 1-0 last weekend, with captain Lautaro Martinez firing home the decisive strike.
Inzaghi will be pleased to have kept successive clean sheets, as his team had started to leak goals at an unusual rate; indeed, they have still conceded an average of one more goal per game than Juventus.
Inter now go into Sunday's game having won two of their last four league meetings with Juve in Milan - as many as throughout the previous 11.
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After a long period of dominance dried up, Juventus have managed just two wins from six against Inter in Serie A - but they can head for San Siro as the only team still unbeaten this season.
The Turin club last enjoyed such status after eight rounds back in 2019, when they last went on to claim the Scudetto, and talk of a challenge to both Milan clubs and Napoli for the 2024-25 title is now growing.
Following last week's 1-0 defeat of 10-man Lazio, they have conceded just one league goal so far, and that success took them to the Serie A summit until former boss Antonio Conte steered his Napoli side back above the Bianconeri.
New coach Thiago Motta - who once starred for Inter during his playing days - has already transformed the feel of a squad that had endured some relatively tough times over recent years.
His team have taken seven points from nine available away from home, following a prior eight-game winless run on the road; furthermore, Juventus are the only club across Europe's top five leagues yet to concede a goal on their travels.
Motta finally suffered a first setback on Tuesday, though, with a 1-0 home loss to Stuttgart in the Champions League that saw the Bundesliga side strike deep into second-half stoppage time.
Nonetheless, keen to test himself against another highly-rated tactician, Inzaghi, he now switches focus to meeting his old club in the Derby d'Italia.
Team News
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After all three came off the bench to link up for Inter's late winner in Switzerland, Federico Dimarco, Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram will all return to the starting lineup on Sunday, in addition to Alessandro Bastoni.
Dimarco's deputy Carlos Augusto suffered a muscle strain in midweek, so the Brazilian wing-back joins deep-lying schemer Hakan Calhanoglu and veteran centre-back Francesco Acerbi on the sidelines.
Midfield duo Kristjan Asllani and Piotr Zielinski have recovered from injuries, though, and both should be named on the bench.
Meanwhile, Juventus may be missing Douglas Luiz, who pulled out of the warm-up against Stuttgart due to a thigh problem, while summer signings Teun Koopmeiners (rib) and Nico Gonzalez (thigh) are still ruled out.
Having served a UEFA suspension in the Champions League, first-choice goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio returns between the posts, but no change is expected in the final third: Turkish teenager Kenan Yildiz and on-loan winger Francisco Conceicao should support Dusan Vlahovic up front.
Vlahovic (15) and Thuram (13) - whose brother Khephren Thuram plays for Juve - top the Serie A goal charts for 2024; however, the Serbian striker has previously played seven league games at San Siro without scoring.
Inter Milan possible starting lineup:
Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Frattesi, Barella, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez
Juventus possible starting lineup:
Di Gregorio; Cambiaso, Kalulu, Gatti, Cabal; McKennie, Locatelli, Fagioli; Conceicao, Vlahovic, Yildiz
We say: Inter Milan 0-0 Juventus
This latest instalment of the Derby d'Italia will be a battle of trophy-winning experience against success-hungry youth: Inter have the highest average age in Serie A this season (29 years and 255 days), while Juventus have the second-lowest, more than five years younger.
Both teams are more than capable of keeping clean sheets - in fact, it is written deep within Juve's DNA - so a safety-first stalemate could disappoint an expectant San Siro.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Jonathan O'Shea
