Juventus face grudge match in Rome

Champions Juventus face one of their sternest tests of the season at Roma tonight in what is now among Serie A's most ill-tempered fixtures.

Juve are top with 30 points from 11 matches, two points ahead of Milan, who also have a tough away match against third-placed Fiorentina.

The Juventus players will have to draw on their mental as well as physical strength in the game at the Olympic Stadium.

Their opponents come into the game on the back of three straight victories and will be desperate to win a contest billed as a grudge match by the Italian media.

Originally, their rivalry was purely a sporting one.

Roma, who won the 2001 scudetto, have long been among Juve's main competitors for domestic honours but since last season the traditional pre-match sniping has assumed a personal aspect.

It began last year when Fabio Capello unexpectedly quit his job as Roma coach to take charge of Juventus - a move that turned him into a villain in the eyes of Roma fans.

His popularity, already low, sank further when he criticised Fran-cesco Totti and advised Roma's younger players they would do well to choose another team member as their role model.

The Roma captain responded by claiming Capello had not been a "truthful person" during his time at the club.

Totti renewed his criticism this week, extending his attack to midfielder and former team-mate Emerson, who followed Capello north to Turin.

The result should be a hostile atmosphere today, though both sets of fans will hope the match is cleaner than it was last season, when fouls repeatedly halted play and Roma defender Leandro Cufre punched Alessandro Del Piero in the face.

Roma have a strong squad and reports in the Italian media suggest their coach, Luciano Spalletti, might field Antonio Cassano in his starting 11.

The striker, who has been excluded from the team over a long-running contract dispute, scored twice in Roma's 4-0 victory in the fixture two seasons ago.

Capello's first team are also fit, all his players having come through the recent international fixtures without injury. If Juve lose Milan would go top by beating Fiorentina, who are three points behind their opponents, at the Stadio Franchi tomorrow.

Milan start as favourites after winning their last eight league games, including a 5-1 demolition of Udinese in the previous round of matches.

Whatever the result, the match should produce goals. Milan and Fiorentina possess the division's most prolific attacks spearheaded by two of its finest strikers.

Fiorentina's Luca Toni and Milan's Alberto Gilardino both got on the scoresheet in Italy's impressive 3-1 friendly win over the Netherlands last weekend.

Toni is Serie A's top scorer, with 13 goals to Gilardino's seven, but neither would worry about failing to hit the target so long as their team come away with three points.

Serie A

Playing Today
Udinese vs Messina 6 p.m.
Roma vs Juventus 8.30 p.m.

Tomorrow - 3 p.m.
Chievo vs Ascoli
Fiorentina vs Milan
Inter vs Parma 8.30 p.m.
Lecce vs Siena

Livorno vs Empoli
Reggina vs Cagliari
Sampdoria vs Lazio
Treviso vs Palermo

Serie B

Played Yesterday
Bari vs AlbinoLeffe 3-1

Today - 4 p.m.
Arezzo vs Modena
Atalanta vs Avellino
Bologna vs Ternana
Catania vs Cremonese
Cesena vs Brescia

Mantova vs Catanzaro
Piacenza vs Pescara
Torino vs Verona
Vicenza vs Triestina

Playing On Monday
Crotone vs Rimini 8.45 p.m.

Bundesliga

Playing Today - 3.30 p.m.
Kaiserslautern vs Nuremberg
Cologne vs Schalke
A. Bielefeld vs B. Munich
B. Dortmund vs H. Berlin
B. M'gladbach vs B. Leverkusen
Mainz vs E. Frankfurt
W. Bremen vs Wolfsburg

Tomorrow - 5.30 p.m.
Hamburg vs Duisburg
Stuttgart vs Hanover