Serie A's second-placed pair AC Milan and Juventus face off on Sunday night hoping leader Inter Milan shows its 'European side' against bottom club Chievo earlier in the day.
Inter has won its last six Serie A games to open up a six-point lead on the chasing duo, at 36 to 30, and will either go nine points clear of one or seven points ahead of both if it beats the visitors from Verona.
But despite crushing rivals at home, Jose' Mourinho's side has limped through its Champions League group, ending a lacklustre campaign with a defeat to Werder Bremen that earned it second place and a likely date with a formidable opponent in the knock-out round.
Juve will have captain Alessandro Del Piero and winger Mauro Camoranesi back against Milan who have been hard hit by the loss of Gennaro Gattuso, set for 5-6 months out with a ligament injury after surgery next Friday.
Milan have lost four times this season including three league defeats and Gattuso was not on the field for any of them.
''He's a leader, we'll miss him a lot,'' Andriy Shevchenko told Milan Channel.
Massimo Ambrosini or Emerson look set to deputise for the inspirational midfield battler, the Italian press said Thursday.
On a better note for the 2007 European champs, Andrea Pirlo and Ronaldinho will be back after missing last week's 1-0 win over Catania.
But Clarence Seedorf is unlikely to recover in time, pundits say.
Juve stopper Nicola Legrottaglie is banned for the Sunday night showdown.
Juve coach Claudio Ranieri on Thursday played down the significance of the match, which is being billed as deciding who will be Inter's rival for the scudetto.
''It means a lot, but it won't be decisive. I think there'll be a lot of clubs fighting it out at the end,'' he told Sky TV.
Against Chievo, Inter coach Mourinho is likely to return to the side that has steamed ahead over the last month but the injured Julio Cruz is set to be replaced by Hernan Crespo or Mario Balotelli alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Mourinho gave Adriano, Ricardo Quaresmo and Mancini run-outs in Europe aimed at boosting their morale but they again failed to impress.
At the back, Walter Samuel will be back to form a formidable pairing with Ivan Cordoba.
Napoli, in fourth place on 27 points, three behind Juve and Milan, host fifth-from-bottom Lecce (13 points) on Saturday night with an eye to getting back into the scudetto race.
Fiorentina, a point behind Napoli on 26, host 9th-placed Catania (22 points) on Sunday after securing a UEFA spot against Dynamo Bucharest Wednesday night.
Catania on Thursday extended coach Walter Zenga's contract by a year until 2010 after the club's strong recent run.
Roma will be seeking their fifth straight league win against Cagliari at the Olimpico on Sunday.
Captain Francesco Totti and French signing Jeremy Menez will be looking to keep up their recently found link-up touch against the Sardinians, who have the same points as the Romans, 20, but have played one game more.
Roma, after hovering just above the relegation zone six weeks ago, should join city rivals Lazio in the top half of the table if they win.
Bologna, second-from-bottom on 11 points, host Torino (fourth-from-bottom, 12) in a relegation tussle that starts off the weekend's proceedings in Saturday's early game.
Walter Novellino, back at the helm of the Turin side after Gianni De Biasi was sacked Monday, knows a win will be a big result at Bologna which has ground out five straight draws under Sinisa Mihajlovic.
The other games are:
Genoa (sixth, 25 points) vs Atalanta (joint 7th, 23)
Palermo (joint 11th, 20) vs Siena (14th, 19)
Reggina (18th, 11) vs Sampdoria (15th, 16)
Udinese (10th, 21) vs Lazio (joint 7th, 23)
