Reviving an old rivalry - Fiorentina vs Juventus

Posted by Mina Rzouki

It's the very definition of a grudge match as Fiorentina welcome their most despised rivals, Juventus, to their stadium on Tuesday night. A fierce rivalry that has lasted the distance, the Dimitar Berbatov saga during the last few days of the transfer market only worsened the relationship between the two sides and it appears Fiorentina are still awaiting a call from the Juve directors to explain themselves. One that might never come.

More interestingly is that this match will pit two of the brightest young Italian coaches against one another. Whilst Antonio Conte has led this Juventus side to undefeated infamy, Vincenzo Montella has arrived over the summer after a glorious time at Catania to wake up the sleeping Viola boys. Making quite the impact, Fiorentina have already collected seven points from a possible 12, playing a 3-5-2 formation that led Napoli, Udinese and Juventus to success.

Stevan JoveticGettyImagesStevan Jovetic is Fiorentina's star man



It's been 14 years since Juventus lost in Florence and Montella will be hoping that it will be his side that finally break the Old Lady's remarkable run. Not only will the fierce rivalry between the two sides provide extra motivation for the squad but players like Stevan Jovetic will use this as a chance to show Juve exactly what they are missing.

The Serbian has been in fine form for La Viola and currently stands as the league's top scorer. In comparison to the other players on his team, Jovetic dribbles the most, takes the most amount of shots, delivers the highest amount of key passes and is overall their most important player.

As a unit, Fiorentina have been developed well under Montella. They are a solid team that love to tackle opponents and concede fewer shots than even Juve. Attacking wise, they are a side that rely on short passes and that all effective through ball that allows them to pierce through defences and score.

Incidentally they are weak when it comes to defending against opponents who also rely on playing through balls to their forwards and subsequently, Montella's men find it difficult to secure a result.

Drifting in and out of the game, if the men in purple hope to get a result against the champions of Italy, then it is imperative they stay focused throughout the full 90 minutes to stop themselves conceding on account of silly errors.

According to the latest reports, Juventus and their coaches are taking this match very seriously and will thus deploy their best starting XI, minus Mirko Vucinic. At the back, Andrea Barzagli will return to join Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, whilst the midfield will have Arturo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio and Andrea Pirlo playing together again.

Considering Mauricio Isla still has not regained his best form, Stephan Lichtsteiner will play as right wing-back and Kwadwo Asamoah will be on the left with the man of the hour, Fabio Quagliarella leading the attacking line. It's been suggested that it will be Sebastian Giovinco who will be chosen to play alongside him as Alessandro Matri continues to warm the bench.

The Florence police headquarters have asked for reinforcements in order to help control the fans during the match on Tuesday, especially considering the historic rivalry between the two. It is expected that 2,000 or more Bianconeri fans will make the journey to watch their team play whilst 1,200 of them have bought tickets to the match.

There has been much debate as to where Antonio Conte will sit considering his safety and his ban. According to stand-in Massimo Carrera, he can stay at home if he likes - such is the telepathy between the two. "We've been working like this for a month now and we have refined our telepathy. We work hard in the week and we know what to do in whatever circumstances," said Carrera in his pre-match conference. "We're on the same wavelength. We see football in the same way, we know what we want and that is important."

Whether he is there in person or not, Conte's work throughout the week is the reason this teams continues to fly and Carrera has proved to be a remarkable replacement on the sidelines. However, it is still early days and Florence will provide the first big test for the Old Lady in the league. With her best boys playing, few would bet against at least a point for the visitors.

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