Pretenders Juve do battle with champions Roma (EN)

MILAN, Sept 28 (AFP)
Champions AS Roma hope to put pretenders Juventus in their place on Saturday evening in Turin when the two sides meet in the biggest clash of the Italian first division season so far.
Juventus have set the early pace this season although last weekend's 0-0 draw at Lecce allowed fellow northerners AC Milan and Inter Milan to grab a share of first place.
Roma, in contrast, have had a poor start to the season both domestically and in Europe but 2-1 wins over Fiorentina and Lokomotiv Moscow - both after going a goal down - have put them back on track in both competitions.
It all makes for a thrilling encounter at the Stadio Delle Alpi and is bound to resurrect memories of last year's 2-2 thriller in the same fixture which went a long way to deciding the title in Roma's favour.
With five rounds of games remaining Roma travelled to Turin six points ahead of their rivals but when Juventus took a 2-0 lead within six minutes it looked as though that margin would be halved.
Juve continued to dominate but could not find a third before Roma's Japanese substitute Hidetoshi Nakata rewrote the script in the last 12 minutes, scoring a beauty before creating an injury-time equaliser for Vincenzo Montella.
That sparked premature - but in the end justified - street celebrations in Rome as the side from the Eternal City took a decisive step to their first Scudetto in 18 years.
This year it is Roma who are playing catch-up and they will not be able to rely on Nakata, who is now at Parma.
Roma's Brazilian defender Antonio Zago will be missing because of a three-match ban for elbowing Fiorentina's Paolo Vanoli off the ball while Juve's Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids and Uruguayan defender Paolo Montero will also be absent for their roles in the brawl in the closing seconds of the Lecce match.
Anything less than a win for Juve will leave both Milan clubs with a chance to go top either on their own or together.
Inter have been the least convincing of the three leaders so far and they face their sternest test yet at the San Siro when Bologna, with three wins in four outings, are the visitors.
AC Milan are living up to the reputation for attacking football enjoyed by their new Turkish coach Fatih Terim and hope to build on that when they visit Perugia.
Despite the club's biggest close-season spending spree in years Milan added two new recruits this week when Belarus prospect Vitali Kutuzov joined and striker Marco Simone - a member of the AC Milan side that dominated the world in the 1980s and early 1990s - returned after four seasons in France.
Lazio continue their quest for their first win of the season when they host Parma who got off the mark at home to Brescia last week thanks to a brilliant goal from Nakata.
The 1-0 defeat by Holland's PSV Eindhoven virtually sealed their fate in the Champions League and now their new coach Alberto Zaccheroni must, to use the time-honoured phrase, concentrate on the league.
Brescia, who this week recruited former Barcelona midfielder Josep Guardiola, host arch-rivals Atalanta while Torino visit fellow promotees Piacenza.
Lecce visit Verona while Verona's city rivals Chievo look to build on their tremendous start to their inaugural first division campaign when they travel north to meet Roy Hodgson's Udinese.
Cash-strapped Fiorentina host Venezia at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Fixtures (13:00 GMT unless stated)
Saturday: Juventus v AS Roma (18:30 GMT)
Sunday: Brescia v Atalanta, Fiorentina v Venezia, Inter Milan v Bologna, Perugia v AC Milan, Piacenza v Torino, Udinese v Chievo, Verona v Lecce, Lazio v Parma (18:30 GMT)


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il Milan è il più
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Season 2001-2002
Let's crash them all!