Torino will be hoping to end their 18 year winless streak in the Derby Della Mole, when they welcome cross-town rivals, Juventus, to the Olympic Stadium on Sunday.
Manager, Giampiero Ventura, has urged his players to use their victory over former "bogey" side, Bologna, last weekend as inspiration going into the first Derby Della Mole of the 2013/14 Serie A season, whilst also asking the fans to get behind their team this weekend:
"We hadn’t won at Bologna for 33 years and it’s been 18 since we last tasted victory against Juventus. Fingers crossed it’s a good omen for us."
“I hope we’ll have a full house at the Stadio Olimpico and the supporters are ready to get behind us. We’ve got plenty of respect for Juventus, who remain the team to beat in Serie A. They’ve achieved back-to-back Scudetto titles and, aside from drawing against Inter, have won all of their opening championship fixtures."
"They were already a competitive outfit and have strengthened even further over the summer. But there’s always something unique about derby games and we’ll go out to try and get a result.”
Toro have enjoyed a strong start to their 2013/14 Serie A campaign, picking up points in 4 of their opening 5 fixtures, including victories over Bologna and Sassoulo. Star man, Alessio Cerci has been the catalyst for this said form, scoring 5 goals in 5 games.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Juventus manager, Antonio Conte, has spoke of his respect for Torino:
"We’ve got great respect for Torino because they’re an fine, well-organised side with fine players and an excellent coach. We know that derbies are always particular types of games in which the form guide goes out of the window. “I’ll never forget when as a player we won the Scudetto, lost both derbies and Torino were relegated. In these games the desire to overcome the opposition counts more than organisation and quality. Anything can happen and we’ll have to remain on our guard.”
Conte also stated that he is pleased with his sides unbeaten start to the season, in which they have won four of their five opening games. The current Scudetto holders have won their last two games 2-1, against Hellas Verona and Chievo Verona respectively:
"If you look back at the statistics from Verona and Chievo you will see that Juventus commanded 70 per cent possession and our opposition managed just two shots on goal from which we were punished. From our six games so far - four of which have been away from home - we’ve won four, drawn two and lifted a trophy. Of course we know there’s room for improvement, and we’re working towards that, but there are also plenty of positives to take. We’re aware that defending our title will be tough because whoever we face will look to stop us playing our normal game and try and catch us on the break or via a dead ball situation. We’ll need to be perfect in every game.”
Team News:
Juventus - Squad: Buffon, Chiellini, Ogbonna, Pogba, Marchisio, Vucinic, Tevez, De Ceglie, Giovinco, Peluso, Llorente, Barzagli, Motta, Bonucci, Padoin, Pirlo, Asamoah, Vidal, Lichtsteiner, Quagliarella, Storari, Isla, Citti.
Torino - Likely starting XI: Padelli; Glik, Bovo, Moretti; Brighi, El Kaddouri, Darmain, Vives, D'Ambrosio; Cerci, Meggiorini.