Soccer-Fiorentina eye historic Juventus double as relegation battle intensifies

One of Italy's fiercest rivalries will have extra spice to it on Sunday when Fiorentina welcome Juventus to the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Juve chairman Andrea Agnelli has become public enemy number one for many after his Super League project suffered a humiliating collapse within 48 hours of its inception. Fiorentina, battling to keep their heads above water towards the wrong end of the table, would doubtless love nothing more than to derail Juve's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League in the week that they tried to leave the competition altogether.

The Viola earned a shock 3-0 win against Juve in Turin before Christmas, inflicting the first league defeat of the season on Andrea Pirlo's side. There would be no sweeter timing for them to complete what would be a first league double against the Turin club since the 1968/69 season, the last time Fiorentina won the title.

CONTRASTING GOALS The rivalry stems not from geography but history, particularly Juventus' controversial 1981/82 Serie A and 1989/90 UEFA Cup title wins and the fury sparked by Roberto Baggio's move from Florence to Turin in 1990.

However, Fiorentina are no longer fighting for silverware and league titles. After finishing 10th and 16th in the last two seasons, they are once again more preoccupied with maintaining their Serie A status than pushing towards Europe. While Juve are embroiled in a six-team battle for three Champions League spots, Fiorentina lead a pack of six teams between 13th and 18th place separated by five points with six games to go.

Coach Beppe Iachini, who was replaced by Cesare Prandelli in November only to resume his role when the former Italy boss resigned four months later, led his side to a crucial 2-1 win at Hellas Verona on Tuesday that ended a four-match winless run. The form of 21-year-old striker Dusan Vlahovic has been hugely encouraging, with the Serbian scoring seven goals in his last six Serie A matches, but Fiorentina are still a long way from safety.

ALL TO PLAY FOR Cagliari followed up an astonishing 4-3 win over Parma on Saturday, where they scored twice in stoppage time to complete a comeback, with a 1-0 victory at Udinese on Wednesday.

The Sardinian side have the momentum but remain in a perilous position, sitting 18th in the final relegation spot on 28 points and the lowest of six teams - the others being Fiorentina, Genoa and Spezia (33), Torino and Benevento (31) - within five points of each other. Parma (20 points) and Crotone (15) will require minor miracles to stay up.

Genoa and Spezia face off on Saturday, while on Sunday Cagliari host Roma and Benevento face Udinese, and on Monday Torino take on Napoli. At the other end of the table, leaders Inter Milan look to get back to winning ways after back-to-back draws against Napoli and Spezia when they face Verona on Sunday, and AC Milan face a tricky trip to Lazio on Monday night.

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