Euroscene: The "Old Lady" keeps on trucking. With the return of the Champions League in just one week, Italian league leaders Juventus on Sunday night served a timely reminder to rivals at home and abroad by winning their top-of-the-table Serie A clash with Internazionale to go 12 points clear.
Curiously, too, Juve's impressive 2-1 defeat of Inter came on a weekend when some of their most famous European rivals experienced unexpected setbacks.
Whilst Juve were seeing off Inter at the San Siro thanks to goals from Ibrahimovic and Del Piero, Chelsea in England and Barcelona in Spain were losing (0-3 to Middlesbrough and 0-1 to Valencia respectively), with Lyon in France being held to a 1-1 away draw by Lens.
No one who knows Juventus, especially this particular Fabio Capello-coached version of Juventus, can really argue with the tone of media comment which greeted the Turin club's big match win: "The League Title Is Called Del Piero", headlined sports daily Gazzetta Dello Sport in reference to Del Piero's majestically struck, 85th-minute free-kick and winning goal.
Even if we are still in the middle of February, with 13 games to play, the Italian title contest is already all over bar the shouting.
In 25 games, Juve have won 21 and lost just once (to AC Milan at the San Siro last October).
For Juve's rivals to get back into the contest, the league leaders now have to lose four games in 13, where previously they have lost just one in 25.
Not only the mathematics, but also the dour, awesomely efficient, lock-tight Juventus self-belief argue against the joint second-placed teams, Inter and AC Milan, who now appear to be battling for second place.
Throughout a tough, tense game on Sunday night, Juventus kept their cool, battled hard in midfield and then rode their luck, especially when Inter's Brazilian striker Adriano slotted home a superb free-kick cum opening goal just before half-time, only for it to be over-ruled because the over-anxious Inter players had failed to notice the referee's raised arm indicating an indirect free-kick. And, in the dying minutes of the match, Inter substitute Alvaro Recoba struck the post.
The intriguing aspect of all this concerns the Champions League. With the Serie A battle all but done and dusted, are Juventus now going to be all that more formidable in Europe?
In a sense, their position is little different from that of Chelsea who, despite that defeat at the weekend, have exactly the same margin over their closest challengers, second placed Manchester United. Curiously, too, Chelsea's forthcoming Champions League rivals, Barcelona, crashed at the weekend, done in by a suicidal pass from goalkeeper Victor Valdes, a pass that allowed Valencia striker David Villa to chip home the winning goal.
Ten days ago, Barca went down 3-1 to Atletico Madrid, thus ending a run of 14 consecutive league wins. The absence of key players such as Brazilian Ronaldhino, Portugal's Deco, Argentine Deco, the poor form of Cameroon's Eto'o and injuries to Xavi and, most recently, Frenchman Giuly, all offer excuses for Barca's loss of form, but the least one can say is that with Chelsea just a week away, the loss of form is hardly opportune.
In contrast, Bayern Munich do not look to be in much trouble in Germany. Following their 2-1 win at home over Nuremburg on Sunday, Bayern too look to be in control of their Bundesliga destiny with a 10-point lead over second-placed Hamburg.
Significantly, too, Bayern are, along with AC Milan, the only side to have beaten Juventus in either Serie A or the Champions League this season.
Even more significantly, Bayern now face AC Milan in the Champions League in one of the toughest second round clashes. Milan, after a period of uncertain form, appear to be back to their best with 5-0 and 4-1 wins over Treviso and Reggina in the last week.
Inter, the big losers on Sunday night, may get some compensation in their Champions League tie against Ajax, who are 20 points behind Dutch league leaders PSV Eindhoven.
Final thought concerns Juventus. As if the weekend had not brought them enough good news, the Turin club will doubtless have noticed that their forthcoming Champions League rivals, German club Werder Bremen, were beaten 2-0 at home by Kaiserslautern.
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