Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri says he is focused on the dangers Monza pose rather than the opportunity to go top of Serie A.
Victory at ninth-placed Monza on Friday will take Juventus above Inter, at least for 48 hours, with the leaders facing an awkward assignment at fourth-placed Napoli on Sunday evening.
But Monza upset Juventus 1-0 at home last season before recording a 2-0 victory at the Allianz Stadium in Turin.
“It won’t be easy in Monza and we’ve known this since last year,” Allegri said at his pre-match press conference.
“They are the only team that took six points off of us last season and we didn’t find a way to score against them.
“We face a team with good players who have put many teams in difficulty, the numbers say so.
“Monza, as often happens in football, demonstrates that the difference is mainly made by the defensive phase: in the last 10 games they have not conceded a goal three times and in the other seven they have only conceded one.
“They all defend together, united, so it will be a difficult match.”
While Monza have lost only once in 10 games – 1-0 at Jose Mourinho’s Roma – the Bianconeri are unbeaten in eight with six wins during that sequence.
But Allegri, whose side drew 1-1 at home to Inter last weekend, has played down Juventus’ impressive start to the season.
He said: “We know what our limits are, the group is cohesive and we hold a good spot in the standings, but we haven’t achieved anything yet and we know that in football you can’t afford to give up.
“There are six games left until the end of the first round – four away games and two direct clashes at home – so we have to take one step at a time.
“We always have to look at fifth in the standings and have to watch our backs to maintain the gap from the teams behind us.
“However, this cannot be done with the result of a single match: the championship is a marathon, not a speed race.
“Being two points behind Inter is a source of pride, but again, we haven’t achieved anything yet.”
Juventus have both Danilo and Alex Sandro, who made a late appearance from the bench against Inter, available after injury and will check on Manuel Locatelli.
Italy midfielder Locatelli played the final half-hour against Inter after suffering a fractured rib that ruled him out of international duty in November.
Allegri said: “In his case it’s a problem of pain: against Inter he came on and managed to lend a hand to the team.
“We’ll see how he responds in training. If he is not available, I will make my assessments on Hans Nicolussi Caviglia, otherwise we will find another solution.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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