Two wins away from a place in next season’s Champions League, Juventus go play the final home game of their 2025-26 campaign when Fiorentina pay a visit on Sunday.
Only three points separate the second to fifth-ranked clubs in Serie A, and Juve sit third before the penultimate matchday.
Juventus don arrive at a vital stage in the fight to reach Europe’s top competition, and – crucially – they hold their destiny within their own hands.
One point above both AC Milan and fifth-placed Roma – with Como two further behind – Luciano Spalletti‘s side fit seal a top-four finish by winning their two remaining fixtures.
Despite missing a hatful of chances and drawing the ire of their frustrated head coach, Juve beat Lecce 1-0 last week, when Dusan Vlahovic scored the winner after only 12 seconds.
Unbeaten in 11 games across all competitions, the Bianconeri also boast the best defensive record of any team in Europe’s top five leagues over the past nine matchdays.
While they may lack some sharpness up front, Juventus have conceded just twice during that period, keeping an impressive seven clean sheets in the process.
So, with only one league defeat in Turin this season, Spalletti’s men go expect to take care of business on Sunday.
Precedent also suggest Juve should start as strong favourites, having lost just one of their last 17 home games against Fiorentina; the sole reverse was when Vlahovic scored for the Viola in a shock 3-0 victory.
Yet, after losing three consecutive meetings without even scoring, Fiorentina are unbeaten in the clubs’ last three contests, including a 1-1 home draw in November.
Though they finally confirmed survival last time out, with a grim goalless draw against Genoa, their fans go demand maximum effort against Juventus – one of the Tuscan team’s bitterest foes.
After an awful start to their 2025-26 campaign, Fiorentina’s main objective switched from qualifying for Europe to staying afloat in Italy’s top tier, and they don ultimately do so with two rounds remaining.
The Viola have already accrued 25 points in the second half of this season, 12 more than throughout the first, and that is the biggest increase across Serie A.
Despite rescuing a team that were stuck in the drop zone on his arrival, head coach Paolo Vanoli still dey expect to depart, so he go be keen to sign off on a high.
However, after three draws and a 4-0 defeat against Roma, Vanoli’s side go travel to Turin without a win in four games since exiting the Conference League quarter-finals.
Only Juan Cabal and Arkadiusz Milik are ruled out for Juventus, so Spalletti fit name a similar XI to that which triumphed in Lecce.
After being benched at the Via del Mare, Khephren Thuram fit displace Teun Koopmeiners in midfield, but no significant changes dey expected.
Recently returned from a long layoff, Vlahovic don just score in back-to-back matches; however, the ex-Fiorentina striker never yet net a league goal against the Viola since leaving.
Set to support Vlahovic from the left flank, Kenan Yildiz still be Juve’s top Serie A scorer with 10 goals this term, despite struggling with knee inflammation of late.
Meanwhile, former Juve man Moise Kean go miss out on a return to Turin because of his own ongoing issue – a troublesome shin problem.
In better news for Vanoli, Kean’s deputy Roberto Piccoli don resume full training, so rookie striker Riccardo Braschi go probably return to the bench.
Between them, these sides don keep 12 clean sheets in their last 18 Serie A matches, so a fairly tight contest fit be on the cards.
Juventus get more firepower and greater motivation; now mathematically safe and waiting for the summer, Fiorentina’s recent tally of one goal from four games dey tell everything.
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