Cannavaro says Napoli-Juventus decisive game as Allegri, Spalletti plays the underdog

Juventus and Real Madrid legend Fabio Cannavaro has followed the Serie A title race closely this season and believes there is still a lot more to play for and the weekend game between Juventus and Napoli will not be a decisive fixture.

Juve is seven points behind Napoli now and could close the gap to four points with a victory in that game, which seems possible, considering the Bianconeri have won eight consecutive games with clean sheets.

The Partenopei has the firepower to break the Bianconeri down and end their winning run, but Max Allegri is an experienced manager who can also mastermind a victory for his side.

Cannavaro expects an exciting game, but he does not believe it is a significant game in the title race.

The former defender said via Tuttojuve:

“Napoli or Juve for the championship but the challenge of Maradona is not yet decisive. 

There are still many more points to play for this term and Cannavaro is right. We cannot overestimate the importance of this game.

However, that does not mean we should be complacent because it will be difficult to catch the Partenopei if we lose and they go ten points ahead of us on the league table.

Meanwhile, Allegri who has won six league titles with Juventus and AC Milan, yet in his pre-match presser, the Bianconeri gaffer insists he is lucky to be a coach and Spalletti is the best.

He also said Napoli is the best team in the league now as his side prepares to go up against one of the in-form clubs in Europe.

Allegri said via Football Italia:

“Napoli are the favourite to win the title, they have 44 points and only lost a game. They are technically strong and coached very well. Luciano [Spalletti] is the best when it comes to coaching and teaching and he is proving so at Napoli.

“I respect Spalletti so much, he is so funny that sometimes we clash as we did last season. I am also a coach, but I do this job by chance, I should have something else. Luciano is so, so good, he’s the best when it comes to teaching football.”

Allegri is the master of mind games and he has displayed that part of his personality here again, as he often does in big matches.

But Spalletti disagrees with Allegri’s suggestion that Napoli have more to lose than Juventus.

“I understand that it’s convenient for Allegri to pass off as a supporting player, but for a Juve always stuffed with champions it’s impossible for them to hide from the role of favourites.

“Certain investments only pay off by playing for Scudetto and Champions League victory. It’s useless to wear a hat or a fake beard, there is no fourth place that will satisfy Juventus.”

He touched on which team should be more afraid heading into the match.

“When you wear such important jackets, I see it hard to play with fear, no one will be afraid, there are strong players in terms of personality and technique and both will play to win and it will be a great show.”

Spalletti spoke about Juventus’ eight wins in a row and their tactical plan.

“The first move is made by the one who hits the centre, he will have the ball between his feet. They are two different philosophies, Allegri espouses the Juventus motto, winning is the only thing that matters.

“Here it’s all more heart and soul, there was Maradona, they saw him play, and when he won he showed how much beauty there is in football and we can’t help but take some of that beauty with us and remember that football hoping to reproduce it.

“Then it’s clear that the matches tell us that they will leave us the pitch, as we also saw with Cremonese and Udinese, and there it becomes a management in which you have to be good at keeping possession and looking for the goal.

“You have to know how to interpret correctly because you leave the pitch and take what they concede. They counter and have multiple individual plays, the first consideration will be to never lose balance in attacking.”