PRE MATCH: JUVENTUS VS BENEVENTO

A clash of two clubs in contrasting league form sees champions Juventus needing a win to keep faint hopes of a tenth successive Scudetto alive, as they meet free-falling Benevento at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday.

Visiting manager Pippo Inzaghi pits his struggling side against one of the clubs where he shone brightest as a player, amid a terrible run of form since the turn of the year, while the hosts must claim victory to stay in touch with the league-leading Milan clubs.

Amid swirling speculation regarding a summer departure for former club Real Madrid last week, Cristiano Ronaldo put relegation-threatened Cagliari to the sword in Sardinia, as Juventus returned to Turin with all three points.

Increasingly impressive in his debut season, despite a testing time for his underperforming new club, winger Federico Chiesa may be charged with leading the generational change next term, should the great man decide to exit.

Of the handful of players with at least seven goals and seven assists across Europe's top five leagues this season, only Manchester United's Marcus Rashford is younger than Chiesa and another assist - his third in the last month and seventh in all - helped Juventus to seal a fourth league win in five.

That run of form has closed the gap to second-placed Milan to only one point, but irrepressible Inter is now a full ten points clear of the Old Lady ahead of the weekend's action.

All season long, Juventus have proved a tough proposition in Turin, with ten wins and two draws from 13 league contests at the Allianz Stadium representing one of the best home records in the top flight, and no other side has bettered their tally of just nine goals conceded on home soil.