17' Consecutive corners come for the hosts but on both occasions Castrovilli doesn't beat the first man. A third corner in as many minutes comes and Ronaldo heads clear at the near post.
16' CLOSE! Ribery ventures through the middle, feeding Julio, who from the left flank whips in a teasing delivery to the near post. Castrovilli produces a smart flick at the near post and with Vlahovic inches away and waiting to pounce at the back post, Alex Sandro has to turn behind for the first corner of the game.
15' De Ligt clips a long pass over the right of the Viola's defence and Ronaldo looks to be in one-on-one with Dragowski. The goalkeeper, however, is surprisingly quick off his line and rushes out to intervene before the Portuguese forward can strike.
14' The game briefly stops while referee Massa checks Szczesny is fine after his collision with Vlahovic before dropping the ball and allowing the Old Lady to restart play.
13' SAVE! Ronaldo gets dispossessed on the left flank, allowing Ribery to drive over the halfway line with possession before reaching the edge of the area. The Frenchman tries to slide in his strike partner, Vlahovic, but Szczesny races off his line to parry away a clearance before the forward can capitalise.
11' Fiorentina have failed to score in their last three Serie A home matches against Juventus, only once in their history have they had a longer run at home against a single opponent - four versus Lazio between 1952 and 1955.
10' Castrovilli stands over the free-kick, whipping it towards the near post, where Bonucci climbs the highest to head away. The Italian centre-back ends up clutching his knee but he seems fine to carry on without requiring any medical attention.
9' Julio cuts back for Caceres on the edge of the Juventus area but the centre-back miscues his cross and it flies into the hands of the unchallenged Szczesny. Rabiot then needlessly fouls outside the area to offer the hosts a free-kick 30 yards from goal.
7' Cuadrado gets in behind Julio, making it to the right of goal before drilling a cross towards the near post, where Dragowski collects the ball in front of the incoming Ronaldo. The right flank is where the visitors are directing all of their play at the minute, with Cuadrado repeatedly getting around Julio.
6' Pirlo's men have dominated possession in the opening stages here, remaining patient as they work the ball from side to side as they attempt to carve out an opening. As of yet, however, Fiorentina are sitting deep and not offering the Old Lady any chances.
4' Alex Sandro drives down the left flank, reaching the byline before seeing his cross miss Ronaldo at the near post. Julio collects at the back post and hooks away a clearance with Cuadrado waiting behind him.
2' Dybala puts some early pressure on Dragowski but the goalkeeper combines with Venuti to avert the danger and play out from the back with real confidence. The Viola make it down the other end but Vlahovic fails to dance around Alex Sandro in the left-hand channel.
1' Referee Davide Massa gets this game underway!
Following their 3-0 win earlier this season, Fiorentina are looking to complete the top-flight double over Juventus for the first time since 1968-69.
Pirlo shifts back to a three-man defence as he makes four changes from the Parma game. Danilo drops out for Chiellini, Szczesny replaces Buffon in goal and Rabiot comes in for Arthur. The other change sees Ramsey preferred ahead of McKennie in midfield for the Old Lady. Up top, Dybala partners Ronaldo again instead of Morata as the pair continue to battle for the second forward’s spot.
Iachini opts for three changes from last time out. Castrovilli comes back into the hosts’ midfield three to replace the suspended Giacomo Bonaventura. At the back, Milenkovic starts in place of Martinez and Julio will operate at left wing-back as he comes in for Biraghi. Youthfulness joins experience up top as 38-year-old Ribery supports the Viola’s main attacking threat Vlahovic.
SUBS: Federico Bernardeschi, Arthur, Gianluigi Buffon, Weston McKennie, Alvaro Morata, Dejan Kulusevski, Carlo Pinsoglio, Gianluca Frabotta, Felix Correia, Danilo.
JUVENTUS (3-5-2): Wojciech Szczesny; Matthijs de Ligt, Leonardo Bonnuci, Giorgio Chiellini; Alex Sandro, Adrien Rabiot, Rodrigo Bentancur, Aaron Ramsey, Juan Cuadrado; Paulo Dybala, Cristiano Ronaldo.
SUBS: Tofol Montiel, Valentin Eysseric, Christian Kouame, Lucas Martinez Quarta, Pietro Terracciano, Antonio Rosati, Jose Callejon, Maximiliano Olivera, Kevin Malcuit, Antonio Barreca, Cristiano Biraghi.
FIORENTINA (3-5-2): Bartlomiej Dragowski; Nikola Milenkovic, German Pezzella, Martin Caceres; Lorenzo Venuti, Gaetano Castrovilli, Erick Pulgar, Sofyan Amrabat, Igor Julio; Franck Ribery, Dusan Vlahovic.
Alex Sandro turned out as the Old Lady’s unlikely hero to spare their blushes against Parma, who took a shock early lead in midweek before a 3-1 loss. Juventus have won just three of their last six leagues games and their Champions League qualification spot looks to be in danger, with both Napoli and Lazio continuing to ramp up the pressure on Andrea Pirlo’s men.
Fiorentina’s safety is yet to be confirmed but a 2-1 win over Hellas Verona in midweek lifted them up to 13th in the league. The Viola have won only two of their last 10 Serie A games under Beppe Iachini and the hosts are yet to win back-to-back games this campaign. Iachini’s side, however, can take confidence from the fact they recorded an impressive 3-0 win in the reverse fixture with Juventus in December.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Serie A fixture between Fiorentina and Juventus.
