Juventus vs Lecce preview - Conte bigs up Lecce clash
Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2012 by PA
Juventus coach Antonio Conte has labelled their game against relegation-threatened Lecce as the "game of our lives".
The Turin giants will be crowned Serie A champions if they can beat Lecce and second-place AC Milan lose against Atalanta.
Juve are three points clear of Milan with three games remaining and hold a better head-to-head record against the Rossoneri.
"Our thoughts are on the encounter," Conte said. "The game against Lecce is the game of our lives.
"We gave a further display of strength and development in our (4-0) triumph at Novara (on Sunday).
"We made a difficult game easy. We need to keep going.
"The fact that we are handing solid displays and playing good football should fill us with pride and satisfaction."
Conte's Juve are just three games away from joining Perugia and Milan as the only sides in the history of Serie A to go an entire season undefeated.
The Bianconeri go into their midweek encounter riding an eight-match winning run.
Rivals Lecce are battling just to stay in Italy's top flight.
The Salentini go into the game knowing that a win could see them climb out of the relegation zone for the first time this year.
Lecce are in the bottom three but they still have time to ensure they can stay in the division.
Sunday's 2-1 loss to Parma left them in 18th place, one point behind Genoa, who are in the last position of safety.
"I believe it is still possible for us to avoid the drop," Lecce coach Serse Cosmi said.
"Our current position in the standings forces us to take maximum points from our remaining games regardless of the results of our rivals.
"We will try against Juve."
The visitors will be without suspended defender Andrea Esposito while Cosmi will have to watch the game from the Juventus stadium stands as he must serve a one-match touchline ban.
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