Inter Milan’s Serie A title defence is on the line with the busy champions chasing a fresher Napoli side who have the finishing line within sight and this weekend both teams take on clubs involved in the fight for survival.
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter played nine matches in April compared to Napoli’s four and, after a hectic season, could end up paying a high price for the demands of battling on all fronts.
Inter’s treble bid ended last month with their Coppa Italia exit to AC Milan, after a two-legged semi-final, but their Champions League dream is still alive following Wednesday’s dramatic 3-3 draw at Barcelona in the semi-final first leg.
While that result ended a run of three consecutive defeats for Inter, and saw the return of forward Marcus Thuram from injury, they will probably be without injured captain Lautaro Martinez when they host lowly Hellas Verona on Saturday.
Martinez went off at halftime with a hamstring problem and, while Thuram made a goalscoring return to action, Inzaghi is unlikely to risk the Argentina forward ahead of the return leg with Barcelona next Tuesday.
Inzaghi won’t be on the bench on Saturday and midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu will also be sidelined after both received a one-match suspension in a settlement with the Italian soccer federation over their relations with club ‘ultras’.
Verona, 15th in the standings, are seven points above the relegation zone but with games against fellow strugglers Lecce and Empoli still to come, they cannot take any chances.
Antonio Conte took over a Napoli side with no European football after a 10th-place finish last season, and an early exit from the Coppa Italia has seen them free of any other commitments since early December.
Napoli’s Cup defeat by Lazio was followed by a league loss to the same opposition, but Conte’s side then went on a 10-game unbeaten run which allowed them take back the top spot which Atalanta had briefly taken from them.
A defeat by Como in February saw Napoli slip to second as Inter looked to have hit the front at just the right time, but two consecutive league losses by Inzaghi’s men means Conte’s side have a three-point lead with four games remaining.
Napoli visit Lecce on Saturday, a side without a win in 11 games and who are one place and two points above the drop zone, although they did claim a 1-1 draw at Atalanta last time out.
Conte will be without defender Alessandro Buongiorno, who could miss the season run-in with a groin injury, but midfielder Frank Anguissa should recover after also going off injured in last weekend’s 2-0 win over Torino.
Atalanta are aiming to maintain their grip on third place when they travel to bottom club Monza on Sunday.
Juventus are at Bologna, also on Sunday, in a Champions League qualification showdown. Juve occupy fourth spot, three points behind Atalanta and one point above Bologna.
AS Roma, Lazio and Fiorentina are also in the hunt for a Champions League place. Roma, unbeaten in 18 league games, host Fiorentina on Sunday while Lazio are at Empoli.
Milan, ninth in the standings, are at Genoa on Monday.
