It was supposed to be a Scudetto match, it turned into a Champions League play-off.
185 days later, the time passed from 4 October to next Wednesday, Juventus and Napoli will finally find themselves at the Stadium.
In these six months of waiting Pirlo and Gattuso have already faced each other twice: the balance sheet is in perfect equality, with the Bianconero who triumphed in Reggio Emilia in the Supercoppa final and the Italian who redeemed himself on 13 February in the championship. .
And he has changed a lot, perhaps even too much compared to Diego Armando Maradona's face to face.
At the time, Gattuso was on the grill and was saved with the victory over his colleague and friend Pirlo, now the roles have been reversed.
The internal collapse with Benevento and the 2-2 in the derby against Toro, the distance with the top that has extended to 12 points and the margin on fifth place now canceled by the Neapolitans: this is why, now, it is the Maestro to being on a bench that is less safe than it is hot.
They pass the elimination from the Champions League against the modest Porto and an abdicated tricolor after nine years in a row, but the ranking situation is beginning to worry for real.
In addition to Napoli, in fact, we must not forget the two Romans, who despite an uncertain path are ready to leave for the assault, with Juve having only four points ahead of Lazio and five over Rome.
Wednesday's match is of absolute importance, the Bianconeri and especially Pirlo cannot afford to make mistakes.
The technician continues work at Continassa, the three excluded from the derby have also joined since yesterday: Arthur, Dybala and McKennie, not summoned against Toro for the American's home party in violation of the covid restrictions interrupted by the carabinieri, are back to train with his team-mates and can return for Napoli, even if the Brazilian midfielder will be evaluated for problems in his right leg.
Then, compared to the match on Saturday.
Pirlo also evaluates other training changes.
Kulusevski's mistake, identical to the one committed against Lazio, could cost the Swede dearly, who risks being overtaken by Ramsey.
Rabiot can return to the owner in the middle of the field, while in defense only De Ligt and Chiellini are available, with Bonucci and Demiral struggling with Covid.
In attack, forward with Ronaldo and Morata: the Portuguese aims to detach Romario after the attack at 772, the Spaniard to return to scoring after a month.
For Dybala, on the other hand, a segment is scheduled for the race in progress, three months after the last appearance.