Inter Milan have top spot in Serie A in their sights as the Italian champions head to Turin on Sunday to take on fierce rivals Juventus just one point behind league leaders Napoli. Monday night’s win over Fiorentina put Inter right on Napoli’s heels as an intriguing Scudetto battle hots up with the pair facing off in Naples in two weeks’ time. But this weekend’s fixtures could also have a big say in the destination of the Scudetto as Napoli have a tough trip to fourth-placed Lazio to deal with on Saturday.

Napoli have let Inter creep up on them with consecutives draws with Roma and Udinese, both of which came after going ahead, and Antonio Conte’s team will be without Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s replacement David Neres who has picked up a thigh injury and will likely be out until early March.

But no team would more like to derail Inter’s title defence than Juve, bigger rivals than even AC Milan and in something of a mini-revival after three wins in three in all competitions.

For once Inter benefit from a near-full week’s rest between matches thanks to their direct qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League, while Juve battled to a 2-1 first-leg win over PSV Eindhoven in the play-offs on Tuesday.

That rest should help Inter as Marcus Thuram looks to be fit enough to start at the Allianz Stadium after being substituted early on against Fiorentina with an unspecified muscular issue.

Should Thuram be absent it would create problems in attack for coach Simone Inzaghi as Monday’s match-winner Marko Arnautovic is also struggling with a thigh knock and Medhi Taremi has failed to make an impact since arriving from Porto.

Juve have been relying on Thuram’s France teammate Randal Kolo Muani who has scored five times in his first three Serie A matches after arriving on loan from Paris Saint-Germain and was unlucky not to net against PSV.

Inter and Napoli having such tough away fixtures offers up an opportunity for Atalanta to force their away back into the title conversation when they host strugglers Cagliari on Saturday.

Atalanta are five points behind Napoli in third and will step onto the field at the Gewiss Stadium still angered by the penalty decision which cost them a 2-1 defeat at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s side will have star attacker Ademola Lookman out at the weekend, when the Bergamo-based outfit will no doubt have one eye on Tuesday’s second leg of their Champions League play-off.

Player to watch: Moise Kean Italy striker Kean will line up against Como at Sunday lunchtime hoping to help Fiorentina continue their push for Champions League football with three points separating Raffaele’s Palladino’s team from Lazio.

The 24-year-old is having his best ever season in front of goal and has netted 15 times in 23 Serie A appearances since signing from Juve last summer.

He will take to the field for the first time after exposing the racist abuse he was subjected to online by Inter fans following Fiorentina’s defeat at the San Siro.

Key stats 1 – Napoli lead Inter Milan by a single point.

5 – the number of goals separating Kean from top scorer and Italy teammate Mateo Retegui.

Fixtures (times GMT) Friday

Bologna v Torino (1945)

Saturday

Atalanta v Cagliari (1400), Lazio v Napoli (1700), AC Milan v Verona (1945)

Sunday

Fiorentina v Como (1130), Monza v Lecce, Udinese v Empoli (1400), Parma v Roma (1700), Juventus v Inter Milan (1945)

Monday

Genoa v Venezia (1945)

Champions League Live Streaming Knockout Phase Play-Off Draw Live Telecast© X (Twitter)

Team AC Milan in action© AFP

Juventus and Fiorentina drew 2-2 on Sunday as the Serie A match was interrupted after seven minutes following racist insults from the stands aimed at home striker Dusan Vlahovic. Earlier, Napoli edged past struggling Venezia 1-0 to move level on points with leaders Atalanta. In Turin, a Khephren Thuram double was cancelled out first by Fiorentina’s Moise Kean and then late on by Riccardo Sottil. “I don’t believe in bad luck,” Juventus coach Thiago Motta told Sky Sport Italia after his side’s 11th draw in 18 league outings this term.

“We should have killed off the game and don’t leave a chance to the opponent. I don’t believe in bad luck. I believe in merit.”

But the match was overshadowed inside the first 10 minutes when referee Maurizio Mariani called over the two captains to tell them he was stopping play while an appeal over the tannoy at the Allianz Stadium called on fans to cut out racist chants.

The two teams then gathered in the centre circle, before the match resumed.

Broadcaster DAZN reported that Fiorentina fans hurled insults in the direction of their former player Vlahovic, who is Serbian.

Since leaving Fiorentina, his club from 2018 to 2022, Vlahovic, 24, has been targeted by fans of the Viola.

In November 2023, Fiorentina were given a suspended one-match ban for chants directed at three Juventus players, including Vlahovic.

Juventus midfielder Thuram opened the scoring after play restarted with a 20th-minute strike. It was the first goal scored by the son of former Juventus and France international Lilian Thuram since he joined the Old Lady in the close-season.

Former Juventus forward Kean levelled on 38 minutes before Thuram doubled up three minutes after half-time.

The hosts looked set to leapfrog their fifth-placed opponents but Sottil struck in the 87th minute to ensure both sides remain level on 32 points.

– ‘Definitely happy’ –

Earlier, Romelu Lukaku wasted a chance to put Napoli ahead in the 37th minute from the penalty spot. His effort was saved by visiting goalkeeper Filip Stankovic.

Giacomo Raspadori decided the match with his first goal of the season after 79 minutes, slotting home a loose ball after Venezia failed to clear.

Napoli’s third-straight victory brought them level with Atalanta, who drew with Lazio on Saturday, and have a superior goal difference.

“Totalling 41 points after 18 matches, nobody, even the most optimistic, thought we could do it at the start of the season, but we still have to improve, we’re a developing team,” said Napoli coach Antonio Conte.

“I am definitely happy, because this is a team that is growing,” Conte said. “If we could score a few more goals, we would all be calmer, more peaceful and less likely to have heart attacks.”

Inter Milan, 3-0 winners at Cagliari on Saturday, are third, one point behind the leading duo but with a game in hand.

Napoli can move into sole possession of the lead next weekend when they face Fiorentina, while Atalanta and Inter face each other in the Italian Supercup in Saudi Arabia.

Paulo Dybala‘s crisp right-footed volley earned Roma a 1-1 draw at AC Milan in Sunday’s final match.

The Argentinian’s 23rd-minute strike came seven minutes after Tijjani Reijnders had opened the scoring for Milan following a flowing counter-attack.

Claudio Ranieri’s Roma are 10th on 20 points, seven behind eighth-placed Milan.

Teun Koopmeiners in action© AFP

Manchester City’s crisis continued with a 2-0 defeat away to Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday, while Pep Guardiola’s old club Barcelona beat Borussia Dortmund to clinch a spot in the knockout stage of Europe’s elite club competition. Arsenal, AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Lille, Feyenoord and Stuttgart were also victorious, but City’s latest loss in a miserable run will dominate the headlines. The 2023 European champions succumbed in Turin as Dusan Vlahovic put Juventus ahead early in the second half when goalkeeper Ederson was unable to keep out his header.

Ilkay Gundogan was denied an equaliser by a fine Michele Di Gregorio save, before Weston McKennie made it 2-0 with a fine acrobatic finish in the 75th minute.

The result leaves Juventus on 11 points with two games left, a tally that is expected to be enough to guarantee them at least a place in the knockout phase play-offs.

City, meanwhile, have now won just once in 10 in all competitions, with seven defeats in that time.

With just eight points, they currently sit 22nd in the standings, in which the top 24 advance to the knockouts. Their next game will be crucial, as they travel to a Paris Saint-Germain side who sit a point beneath Guardiola’s men.

“We have to get points, we’ll go to Paris to try and do that and the same goes for the final match at home (to Club Brugge),” Guardiola told Amazon Prime in Italy.

Barcelona are second in the standings with 15 points, behind only Liverpool, after beating Dortmund 3-2 in a thriller in Germany, with Ferran Torres their hero.

Raphinha fired Barca ahead with his 17th goal of the season, early in a remarkable second half.

Serhou Guirassy equalised with a penalty on the hour mark, but substitute Torres put Barca back in front on 75 minutes, converting the loose ball after Fermin Lopez‘s shot was saved.

Guirassy scored again for a quick equaliser, only for Torres to strike once more and win the game for Barca with five minutes left.

Barcelona’s tally leaves them, like Liverpool, ideally placed to finish in the top eight, which means direct progress to the last 16 without having to go through the play-offs.

Arsenal are third in the standings on 13 points after easing to a 3-0 win over Monaco in London.

Bukayo Saka scored twice, putting the Gunners ahead in the first half and making it 2-0 on 78 minutes as the hosts pounced on disastrous Monaco defending.

Saka then turned provider for the late third, with substitute Kai Havertz credited with the final touch.

Mikel Arteta‘s team are one of six sides on 13 points, with Lille also on that tally after edging Sturm Graz 3-2 in France thanks to a fine late winner from Hakon Haraldsson.

Lille were 2-0 up through Osame Sahraoui and Mitchel Bakker, only for goals by Otar Kiteishvili and Mika Biereth to bring the Austrian champions back level.

However, Icelandic midfielder Haraldsson secured Lille’s fourth win of the campaign.

Atletico eased to a 3-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava, with Antoine Griezmann scoring twice after Julian Alvarez had opened the scoring with an excellent strike.

David Strelec pulled one back for the Slovaks, who are one of three teams already eliminated having lost six games out of six. The others are RB Leipzig and Young Boys.

Milan defeated Red Star Belgrade 2-1 at San Siro with Tammy Abraham grabbing the winner three minutes from time.

Rafael Leao had put Milan ahead only for Nemanja Radonjic to equalise for the Serbian side, who have lost five of their six games and are surely heading out.

Benfica edged closer to a play-off spot with a 0-0 draw at home to Bologna of Italy, who have scored just one goal in six games and will go no further.

Feyenoord stayed on course to go through after beating Sparta Prague 4-2 in Rotterdam, with Gernot Trauner, Igor Paixao, Anis Hadj Moussa and Santiago Gimenez netting their goals.

Stuttgart kept alive their hopes of progress by coming from behind to beat Young Boys 5-1.

Lukasz Lakomy put Young Boys ahead but Angelo Stiller levelled before Enzo Millot, Chris Fuehrich, Josha Vagnoman and Yannik Keitel all scored in the second half.

The next round of Champions League games is scheduled for January 21 and 22, with the league phase concluding the following week.

Manchester City’s malaise leaves the English champions in the unusual position of fretting over qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League ahead of a tricky trip to Italian giants Juventus. City have won just once in their past nine games in all competitions, with an injury crisis and a loss of form for some of their biggest stars leading to the worst run of Pep Guardiola’s managerial career. Despite a 4-1 humbling by Sporting Lisbon and an embarrassing collapse from 3-0 up to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord, they are still in a position to qualify from the new league-phase format.

They sit 17th in the 36-team table, with a top-24 finish enough to secure a place in the playoff round at the least.

However, their chances of direct entry to the last 16 by finishing in the top eight look slim, with another difficult trip to Paris Saint-Germain to come in January before a home game against Club Brugge.

The Champions League is even more significant for City this season with their Premier League title defence seemingly in tatters.

After an unprecedented four consecutive English top-flight titles, the champions, in fourth place, trail Liverpool by eight points and Arne Slot’s men also have a game in hand.

City have often hit top form down the home straight to win the league during Guardiola’s six title successes in the past seven seasons.

This time the mood music around the Etihad is different, with injuries among an ageing squad taking a heavy toll.

“The season starts difficult, it will be difficult all season,” said Guardiola after his side’s latest stumble in a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

“We have to survive the season, every game, try to take points, to try to win games and go forward.”

City squad ‘not enough’

Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is the biggest miss and is unlikely to return again this season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in September.

John Stones, Nathan Ake, Mateo Kovacic and Oscar Bobb are also sidelined for the trip to Turin, while Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden are among the big names to have missed significant chunks of the campaign so far.

“If the squad is this short then it is always so difficult for all the players to play three days after three days,” said midfielder Bernardo Silva.

“With a squad of 20 players, if you only have 13 available, it is not good enough.”

City have little time to lick their wounds, with 12 games in 50 days between the Juventus clash and the end of the league phase on January 29.

“The doctors and physios are working incredible this season like never before I have ever seen but the reality is we have few players to rotate in this period,” said Guardiola. “This season will be like this.

“Don’t feel sorry, accept the challenge and maybe at the end we will have more satisfaction about the way we behave than in other seasons when we won the titles.”

The hope for City is that they could yet be Champions League contenders if their medical room empties and they find their customary form come the decisive spell of the season in the spring.

Just one win from their final three games will almost certainly guarantee qualification.

All three of their opponents to come are below them in the table, with Juventus themselves on a four-game winless run and floundering in sixth place in Serie A.

City need to look back just two years for inspiration. Defeats to Brentford, Southampton, Manchester United and Tottenham in the winter months of the 2022/23 campaign had Guardiola questioning whether the hunger had gone from his squad after feasting on silverware for so long.

A few months later, they lifted the treble, including the club’s only Champions League to date.

Paul Pogba‘s Juventus career is over after the Serie A club announced on Friday that the France midfielder’s contract had been terminated even though his doping ban was cut to 18 months on appeal. Pogba will be able to return to competitive football in March after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) chopped last month an initial four-year suspension handed down by the Italian anti-doping authority NADO. But Juventus have decided to cut ties with the 31-year-old, whose return to Turin from Manchester United in 2022 was ruined by a string of problems on and off the pitch.

In a statement, Juve said that they and Pogba “have reached a mutual agreement for the termination of their contract as of 30 November, 2024”.

His contract had been due to expire in 2026.

“You gave me a lot, more than what I could ever say, and I’ll always keep with me the love you showed me,” said Pogba to Juve fans on social media.

“You’ll always be in my heart. Good luck.”

Pogba had said in October that he was “willing to give up money to be able to play again with Juve”, an appeal which fell on deaf ears at the “Old Lady” of Italian football.

Juve’s announcement is no surprise as both coach Thiago Motta and sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli have both repeatedly referred to Pogba in the past tense, saying that “he was a great player”.

Pogba, a World Cup winner with France in 2018, started just one match after rejoining Juve — with whom he won four Serie A titles between 2012 and 2016 — in the summer of 2022.

He last played for Juve at Empoli in September last year, not long before he was provisionally suspended for testing positive for testosterone.

Doping ban

That test came following Juve’s opening Serie A fixture of last season the previous month, a 3-0 win at Udinese in which he didn’t even play.

He was then banned for four years by NADO in February, a sanction which put his career at risk before CAS reduced his punishment.

CAS accepted Pogba’s argument that the failed test “was the result of erroneously taking a supplement prescribed to him by a medical doctor in Florida”.

However, CAS did not completely exonerate Pogba as he “was not without fault” and as a professional football player, “he should have paid a greater care in the circumstances”.

During the 2022-23 season, Pogba made just 10 appearances for Juve, mainly due to a knee injury that also ruled him out of the World Cup in Qatar where France lost out to Argentina in the final in December 2022.

He was also the victim of a case of organised extortion, for which six men, including his brother Mathias, have been ordered to stand trial.

In Pogba’s absence Juve switched manager from Massimiliano Allegri to Motta and brought in a host of new players as part of a rebuild. 

Juve, who finished third last term without Pogba, splashed out over 120 million euros on midfielders Teun Koopmeiners, Douglas Luiz and Khephren Thuram in a busy summer on the transfer market.

They currently sit sixth in Serie A but are only two points behind league leaders Napoli and face AC Milan at the San Siro after the international break.

Juventus edged a tense derby against city rivals Torino 2-0 on Saturday to move within one point of the summit of Serie A, while AC Milan dropped points in an entertaining draw at Cagliari. Strikes in both halves from Timothy Weah and Kenan Yildiz were enough to give Juventus victory over their fellow side from Turin and send the Old Lady up to third in the table with 24 points. The victory, provisionally, leaves Juventus level on points with champions Inter Milan in second and one behind league leaders Napoli.

“It was another good performance where we brought the three points home,” Juventus coach Thiago Motta told Sky Sport Italia.

“I am happy both with the result and the performance, in a derby on home turf, and thank our fans for their support.”

With the pair in action against each other on Sunday, Juventus are ensured to have cut the gap to at least one of them this weekend.

However, Juve could nonetheless exit the Champions League places this week as Atalanta, Fiorentina and Lazio are all still to play, and trail Motta’s side by just two points.

Torino’s form has fallen off drastically in recent weeks after they had sat top of the table in September.

With one win in their last seven league outings, Torino now sit 11th in the league and 10 points adrift of their city rivals.

The deadlock was broken on 18 minutes when Weah tapped into an open net after Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had failed to hold onto Andrea Cambiaso‘s driven effort from wide on the left. 

Both sides struggled to create chances in a match that will likely not live long in the memory of either set of fans.

Yildiz then ended Torino hopes of a draw six minutes from time with a stooping back-post header.

‘A step backwards’

AC Milan fell further behind the title race after twice throwing away the lead in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Cagliari.

The Rossoneri remain seventh but are now four points off the Champions League places and seven behind pacesetters Napoli.

Rafael Leao scored twice in the first half to give Milan the lead after Nadir Zortea’s early opener.

Cagliari struck back soon after the break through Gabriele Zappa before Tammy Abraham restored the visitors’ lead, only for Zappa to score a sensational equaliser in the final stages.

“This draw is clearly a step backwards,” AC Milan coach Paulo Fonseca said to DAZN, referencing his side’s midweek 3-1 victory in the Champions League against Real Madrid.

“Our problem today was our defence, we lacked aggression, we let them cross too much, we lost too many aerial duels, it’s not possible to win a match in those conditions.”

For the home side, the draw takes them to 16th place on 10 points, one clear of the drop zone.

Zortea gave Cagliari the perfect start on two minutes as he smashed home from the back post after a corner.

Leao brought Milan level 13 minutes later with a lobbed finish after being sent in behind the defence by Tijjani Reijnders’ excellent lofted pass.

The Portuguese winger then doubled up five minutes before the break as Youssouf Fofana released him with an accurate long ball to his feet and he rounded the goalkeeper to give Milan the advantage.

Nine minutes after the break Fofana was at fault as he inadvertently played Zappa in behind his own defence and the Cagliari player finished past the advancing Mike Maignan.

Abraham looked to have completed the comeback for Fonseca’s side with his second goal of the season when he tapped home on 69 minutes.

But Zappa equalised again for Cagliari with one minute left via a thumping volley from a looping cross.

Parma came from behind to beat bottom-of-the-table Venezia 2-1 away from home.

Hans Nicolussi Caviglia opened the scoring for the hosts but goals either side of the break from Emanuele Valeri and Ange-Yoan Bonny moved Parma up to 14th, three points clear of the relegation zone.

The pick of Sunday’s action is the trip of 2023 Scudetto winners Napoli to reigning champions Inter Milan.

Indian cricket stalwart Virat Kohli turned 36 on Tuesday, and received an outpouring of wishes from people worldwide. One of the people to wish Kohli on his birthday was French footballer Paul Pogba. In an amusing appearance on a livestream with popular American YouTuber ‘IShowSpeed’, Pogba wished Kohli on his birthday. Pogba has been out of football action for more than a year, having last played in September 2023 for Juventus. Pogba is currently serving an 18-month ban due to doping.

During the livestream, Speed (real name Darren Jason Watkins Jr) asked Pogba whether he knew who Kohli is. Upon showing his picture and mentioning to him that he’s a cricketer, Pogba appeared to recognize.

Speed & Paul pogba wished Happy Birthday to Virat Kohli pic.twitter.com/nYH60pg7AQ

— Gaurav (@Melbourne__82) November 5, 2024

“Happy Birthday bro (brother), long life!” said Pogba, while wishing Kohli on his birthday. Kohli turned 36 on Tuesday, November 5. 

Speed also told Pogba that Kohli is one of the best cricketers in the world, describing Kohli as a “legend”.

Pogba’s wish to Kohli was one of the highlights of his surprise appearance on Speed’s channel. The duo also engaged in football and video game challenges during the collaboration.

Pogba had been handed a four-year ban due to doping, which was later reduced to 18 months. He is eligible to resume training from January, and can appear competitively from March.

Meanwhile, Kohli’s form has come under intense scrutiny following India’s 0-3 home Test series whitewash at the hands of New Zealand. The batter managed just 93 runs in three Tests in the recently-concluded series.

As per a report by Hindustan Times, Kohli chose to spend his birthday with wife Anushka Sharma at his restaurant chain One8 Commune.

Kohli is next set to play in the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia in Australia. The series gets underway on November 22. Kohli only played one of the four Tests when India last toured Australia in 2020/21.