Serie A : Juventus v AC Milan: Preview

Juventus goalkeeper Alex Manninger insists there is still time for the Bianconeri to catch Inter Milan in the Serie A title race.

Ciro Ferrara's side welcome AC Milan to the Stadio Olimpico tomorrow lying one point behind their opponents and nine adrift of the league leaders.

Their 2-1 win at Parma in midweek eased the pressure on the coach after Juve ended 2009 with successive defeats to Bari and Catania, but Manninger, who has been deputising for Gianluigi Buffon while the Italy international is out with a knee injury, knows they cannot afford any more slip-ups if they are to challenge Inter.

"There are 20 possibilities (to catch Inter) because that is the number of matches left,'' he said on the Juventus Channel.

"We will try to win them all, knowing that we cannot afford more bad moves. In every match we will need maximum concentration to get the right result.''

The Austrian added: "We needed a different start (to 2010) because at Juventus one cannot accept three consecutive defeats.

"Not even we knew why everything was going so wrong. In Bari we played well and yet we lost. Against Catania we did quite well with a number of attempts on goal but three minutes from full-time they scored to make it 1-2.

"Anyway we needed the victory (over Parma) for the morale.''

Manninger is happy to get the chance to impress in the absence of Buffon.

"Substituting Gigi is my job and I am happy to be able to contribute when he isn't available. Last year I played quite a few matches and I was happy, because it was not part of my plans to join Juventus to be a spectator,'' he added.

"This year I had to wait a bit longer to play and now I am happy to do so.''

Milan returned after the winter break with a thumping 5-2 win over Genoa at the San Siro, which could have been even greater had Ronaldinho scored both, rather than just one, of his penalties.

Current form suggests they, and not Juve, look the likely challengers to Inter.

But Manninger said: "Milan are doing well, but in the last few weeks we have found our determination again and I think this could be seen in Parma.''

Milan captain Massimo Ambrosini has urged his team-mates to keep up the good work following their convincing triumph on Wednesday.

"The win against Genoa was very important considering that Inter and Juve won their respective games,'' said Ambrosini, who won two penalties in the victory.

"But there is still a long way to go, and we need to continue like this.

"On Sunday we face a big game and we must be fully focused in order to come away with three points.''

Juventus will be without David Trezeguet, who has an ankle injury, and defender Martin Caceres, who is suspended following his sending off against Parma.

Fabio Cannavaro, though, who missed that game with a ban, will return.

Milan are set to be without injured trio Clarence Seedorf, Gianluca Zambrotta and Alexandre Pato but David Beckham is available.
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