Cagliari will host Juventus full of confidence, even though they got defeated by Milan last week. Ronaldinho’s goal from the penalty spot brought Rossoneri a win, and Massimiliano Allegri can be proud at his team as they were an equal opponent for the most of the match, even having more shots on target than their rival. This week, mighty Juve will arrive to Sardinia and Allegri is familiar with the problems “the Old Lady” is dealing with lately. Before the match in Milan, Cagliari recorded 4 consecutive wins, scoring 9 goals during that time period, mostly thanks to Alessandro Matrio and Nene. Lino Mazzorati and Michele Cannini won’t be able to play due to flu-like symptoms. Those are their only 2 absences as no one is suspended in Cagliari. Francesco Pisano has returned back to practice mode as he recovered from an injury that forced him to miss the game with Milan.
Problems
Ciro Ferrara’s squad is entering this game after losing to Bordeaux during the midweek in the Champions League. Qualification to the next round of CL is now very questionable, and next week they will be expecting the big derby against Inter, so Juve hasn’t got much choice but to try and take the 3 points in this match in any way they can. Inter currently has a 5-point advantage, and with a potential failure at this match, the difference could even get up to 8 which surely wouldn’t be encouraging for Juventus before the great derby. The stats go in Juventus’ favor as they haven’t been defeated at this island since January 1999. when Cagliari celebrated by 1:0. Their last clash played at the Sant’Elia stadium ended in a Juventus’ 1:0 thanks to Amauri’s goal scored just before the end of 1st half. David Trezeguet and Vicenzo Iaquinta will be absent for a bit longer due to knee injuries. Everybody was afraid Amauri also won’t be able to play as he had to leave the pitch early due to a back injury in their CL match, but after some additional exams, he got the permission to play on Sunday.
Juve is proving the class
Juve will desperately want to prove they’re not a free-falling squad and that they’ve got enough strong of a character to get back to the winning ways after a failure in France. Cagliari will certainly attempt to make “the Old Lady’s” life miserable, but will probably fail. Away win.
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Prediction:
Tip: 2
Odd: 2.12
Bookie: Bet365
Stake: 5 /10
Tipster: Kather
