© EuroFootball.com
Tomorrow in the first leg of the Italian Cup final (Coppa Italia) the teams of Rome's Lazio and Turin's Juventus will face off. This intriguing and important match will take place at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, which can accommodate about 82,000 spectators and is expected to be packed.
For Juventus, the Italian Cup has now become the main goal. The reasons for the change in goals lie in very unsuccessful results: the team was recently eliminated from the Champions League after losing to Deportivo, and in the Italian championship, a 1-3 loss to league leaders Milan increased the gap to Juventus to 9 points.
The Turin club almost has no chances left to compete for the Serie A title, a fact acknowledged even by some of the team's leaders such as goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and midfielder Pavel Nedved, as well as coach Marcelo Lippi.
Rome's Lazio this season has three goals: securing a place in the Champions League (to remain at least 4th in their championship), winning the Italian Cup, and winning the upcoming Rome derby on Sunday.
In the league, Lazio is currently fulfilling their task as they are in fourth place, but the last two games ending in a draw did not allow them to break away from the pursuers.
Both team coaches will have real problems selecting their lineups. Due to injuries, Juventus will miss forwards D. Trezeguet and A. Del Piero, as well as the injured G. Zambrotta, P. Montero, M. Iuliano, A. Birindelli, and the suspended C. Ferrara. Meanwhile, Lazio will be without C. Lopez, who left for his native Argentina due to his grandfather's death, as well as injured players R. Muzzi, P. Negro, and G. Gottardi. It is unclear whether the ill F. Liverani will be able to play.
In their most recent meetings, Lazio had a more successful outcome: this season they beat Juventus 2-0 at home in the league, and last season played a draw 0-0 in Rome before defeating the future champions 1-2 in Turin.
Looking back even further, Juventus have only won their last encounter more than four years ago. It happened on January 13, 2000, in the Italian Cup in Turin, when the hosts celebrated a 3-2 victory (one goal for the visitors was scored by now Lazio coach Roberto Mancini).
The match will be officiated by Pierluigi Collina, considered the best referee in the world.
