Juventus have all the momentum against first-place Napoli as Serie A giants collide

South American goalscorer Claudio Pizarro is in vogue across Europe, having exported his fine finishing technique on club football so consistently for so long. That and more as Andy Hawkey examines the football news around Europe.

Paul Pogba of Juventus in action during the Serie A match against Frosinone Calcio at Stadio Matusa on February 7, 2016 in Frosinone, Italy. (Photo by Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images)

The important thing, says Gigi Buffon, captain of Juventus and veteran of eight top-spot finishes in Serie A, is "not to lose".

There may have been an element of psychological tease in the goalkeeper's remark, but it also reflects how much the scudetto holders have come to relish the role of stalkers, not pacesetters, in a compelling Italian race that hits a key date on Saturday evening when Juventus host leaders Napoli.

A home win will put Juve on the top of the table for the first time this season, a leapfrog that would alter the governing dynamic of a chase that has whittled down, since the turn of the year, from five to two the principal contenders for the Italian championship.

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Juventus happy with a draw?

Do not believe it too strongly, although there will be some caution about their approach as a defence missing Giorgio Chiellini and probably the injured central midfielder Sami Khedira sets about containing Gonzalo Higuain, whose 24 goals in 24 league games have helped make Napoli the highest goalscorers in the division.

But to drop points would leave Juventus with a sense they have not known since the end of October, 14 fixtures ago.

Back then, they lost to Sassuolo and lingered stubbornly in the bottom half of the table, with just 12 points from their first 10 matches. The slump was startling. Senior players such as Buffon and Patrice Evra urged their colleagues to remember what it meant to wear the Juventus jersey.

The overwhelming evidence seemed that, without Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal wearing their jersey, Juve had lost too many important men in the summer to achieve a fifth successive title, even to qualify for the 2016/17 Uefa Champions League.

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The precedent was discouraging. No Italian champion has ever risen from such a low starting point, such a scant yield of points from the opening 10 games as Juventus had by the evening of October 28.

The key to the revival? The kind of determination, certainly, Buffon and Evra were referring to when they spoke of a need to summon the steely spirit that defined the three scudetto seasons under Antonio Conte, and the last campaign, under Massimiliano Allegri, whose capacity to lead Juve out of their autumn slump has burnished his managerial reputation enough to make the struggling English champions Chelsea look at him an attractive candidate for their bench next season.

Allegri may not have found his new Vidal, but in Khedira, he has a lucky charm. Whenever Khedira has been fit – which has only been for half the league campaign overall – Juve have been unbeatable.

And though Paul Pogba may not have the passing range and dead-ball reliability of Pirlo, the young French midfielder’s all-round gifts have come out of hibernation spectacularly as Juve’s momentum has gathered. Meanwhile, the flourishing of Paulo Dybala, the 22-year-old Argentine striker, means the nostalgia for Tevez has subsided considerably.

Allegri had appeared the most reluctant convert to the gifts of Dybala, who joined Juventus for an initial fee of over €30 million (Dh124.3m) from Palermo in the close-season, at the beginning of the campaign.

It now looks like he was easing the young attacker in gently by keeping him on the substitutes’ bench at the outset of his Juve career. Dybala, now a guaranteed starter, has netted nine of his 13 goals in the league during the 14-match winning run.

That is not quite as prolific as his compatriot Higuain, but it is threatening form to a Napoli whose leadership of Serie A has won the hearts of many neutrals.

They have played the most attractive football in Italy this season, and they have gone farther than any team since the AC Milan then managed by Allegri in 2011 to steering the scudetto somewhere other than Turin.

If the Neapolitans can leave that city with a point on Saturday night, they will feel they have a taken a long stride towards their dream, whatever Buffon might say.

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Werder Bremen's Claudio Pizzarro

Peru's Peter Pan: Pizarro, a Peruvian, has seven goals in his past six matches for Werder Bremen, who he first joined in 1999. He will turn 38 this year but hopes the latest of his 260 goals for German clubs, in this past Tuesday's 3-1 German Cup quarter-final win against Bayer Leverkusen might just lead to another trophy for his collection.

Medals galore: Pizarro won six Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich. He also won the cup five times and has another winners medal in that competition with Bremen. He was part of the Bayern squad who won the 2013 Uefa Champions League and was a runner-up with Bayern in 2012 and with Chelsea in 2008.

Back and forth: He had two spells with Bayern, either side of his single season in the English Premier League, and as of last summer is in his third stint with Bremen. His two German employers have kept asking him back for sound reasons. His technical excellence, ability to bring others into play and strength in the air have been assets throughout his 17 years in European elite football.

Goals guaranteed: No foreign player has scored more goals than Pizarro in the Bundesliga in the professional era, and in each of 11 different seasons he has registered double figures for league goals in Germany. Bayern suspected he was on the wane after few opportunities and no league goals last term, but his recent form with Bremen suggests otherwise.

National hero: His international career with Peru has had its ups and downs. Pizarro disputed, all the way to court, a ban imposed on him by the Peruvian Football Federation following unproven allegations of indiscipline. That is in the past and, at his fourth Copa America last summer, he scored his 20th goal for his country. His first was fully 17 years ago this week.

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MATCH OF THE WEEK: Borussia Dortmund v Hanover

Attacking midfielder Marco Reus’s return to form after injury and illness has given Borussia Dortmund a boost in their campaign to chase down Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich as they prepare to host struggling Hanover on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Germany international, plagued by injuries in recent years, scored one goal and set up another in a 3-1 victory at Stuttgart in the German cup quarter-finals on Tuesday, having returned days earlier from a virus infection.

Coach Thomas Tuchel said Reus was almost back to his best. “He’s a sensitive, creative player who needs to know that he doesn’t have to think about his body. We’re not there yet, but on a great path to getting there,” Tuchel said. “It’s important not to ask for too much too soon, because we want to see him finish the season. But it’s amazing how focused he is and how cleverly he’s positioning himself.”

Reus’s nine league goals have helped Dortmund to 45 points, a haul that would normally have put them top of the Bundesliga at this stage were it not for Bayern Munich’s near-flawless campaign, which has put them eight points clear.

The Ruhr valley club do, however, boast the best attack in the division and have scored 30 goals in their nine home games so far. Gabon international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, currently the Bundesliga’s top scorer with 20 goals, has outscored the entire Hanover team, who prop up the division.

“It is good that we played on Tuesday (in the Cup) as we have a bit more time to recover,” said Tuchel. “We have to be professional about our recovery now and then we will be 100 per cent on Saturday.”

Bayern travel to Augsburg on Sunday in a Bavarian derby.

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