Old foxes play hide and seek.
''Naples is the strongest in the league, it counts more for them than for us'' ventured Max Allegri on the eve of Maradona's championship challenge.
''Don't wear a hat and a fake beard - Spalletti retorts, the low profile coach - Juve are favourites, certain investments are paid for for the Italian victory''.
The advantage of +7 is a nice nest egg for the dominating Napoli, with the best attack and a wild Osimhen and top scorer with 10 goals.
But opposite is the bunker set up by Allegri, the best defense with 7 goals conceded, which comes from eight wins in a row without goals on the back after Milan's 2-0 win on 8 October.
Spalletti prays because he remembers (he had just returned to Rome) Allegri's feat in 2016, the black and white scudetto starting from -11 with 14 wins in a row.
This time from -10 Juve is at -7 only for the Napoli super tournament, but they went from eighth to second place.
If he wins tomorrow everything comes back into play.
In the meantime, Serie A and the forces of order are monitoring the behavior of the ultras after the accidents on the A1 between Neapolitans and Roma fans, also in view of the match against Maradona on 29 January.
Meanwhile, the 800 Juve fans will be carefully escorted by the police tomorrow.
From a sporting point of view, the difficulty that the Milanese are facing also makes us lean towards a long Napoli-Juve match.
Inter took a point in two games and suffered in the Italian Cup, where Milan were eliminated in numerical superiority after the half flop with Roma.
Inzaghi and Pioli perhaps also pay for the controversy over the stadium, the thought of the Super Cup in Riyadh next week (where the general rehearsal of the semi-automatic offside will take place), but the weekend's points cannot be lost.
Inter receives a Verona that returns to hoping for salvation, Milan (without Tonali) is awaited by the insidious away match with Lecce in the center of the standings, capable of 10 points in the last 4 games.
The three rivals on equal points are hoping for the misadventures of the two Milanese players who dream of fourth place in the Champions League, but who have commitments that should not be underestimated.
Roma, which finds Mourinho on the bench and counts on Abraham's offensive awakening, receives Fiorentina in the sub-highlight of the day who must decide whether to sell Nico Gonzalez after Leicester's 34 million offer.
Atalanta, which is gradually regaining awareness and results, hosts Salernitana which hasn't won since mid-October but has so far placed the best market shot by signing goalkeeper Ochoa.
After the two recoveries suffered with Lecce and Empoli, Lazio (which Luis Alberto confirms) wants to start again at a gallop and is the favorite at home to a Sassuolo in crisis and plunged into a slippery area of the standings.
Juric's Turin feel they can climb at least up to eighth place: the enthusiasm for the elimination of Milan can give wings in the home confrontation with Nzola's Spezia while Udinese tries against Bologna, in full emergency for ten absentees, that success that has been missing for nine races.
In the safety zone, last chance for Alvini to save the bench of a Cremonese still looking for the first victory.
It won't be easy because the Lombard derby is scheduled with Palladino's Monza who have shown they deserve Serie A. Stankovic's Sampdoria, after the expected knockout with Napoli on the day of tribute to Vialli and Mihajlovic, try to start again his climb from the penultimate place looking for points at Empoli, who showed his character with the comeback at the Olimpico.