Un-Collapsing The Collapse
Juventus had ended 2010 with an 18-match unbeaten record in all competitions and had gone 13 Serie A encounters without dropping all three points in a single match. But the start of the new year has seen the Old Lady collapse almost radically, their 4-1 hammering of Parma in their first game of 2011 was followed by a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to Napoli in Naples.
Back-to-back defeats have once again raised questions about the extent of success the rebuilding of Juventus under Luigi Del Neri has and will achieve and has also forced them to almost relinquish hopes of a Scudetto triumph.
There are suggestions that the Old Lady's season has been deflated by the two losses but they would be keen to prove that theory wrong tonight against Catania in the Round of 16 tie in the Coppa Italia.
Juventus striker and all-time legend Alessandro Del Piero remains confident of a victory tonight and explains, ''We have to come out of this situation as soon as possible and not be affected by pessimism and negativity. The year has only just begun and there are many games left to play.
"We have to concentrate on what we have to do rather than on what we have not done and focus on our Coppa Italia match against Catania and in Sunday's game against Bari."
Cup Distraction
Just like Juventus, Catania too are coming off the back of two successive losses in the new year. The Sicilians commenced the new year with a 4-2 defeat to Roma in Rome and at the weekend went down 2-1 to Italian and European champions Inter at home despite taking the lead.
The results mean that Marco Giampaolo's side are now 16th in Serie A, just three points above the relegation zone, and there is no doubt that Catania's sole objective for the rest of the campaign is to avoid the drop to the Italian second division.
''Our main priority this season is to avoid the drop,'' said Giampaolo. ''But we will try to honour the Coppa Italia and play well against Juventus. We played well against Inter and although we accept the defeat, we didn't deserve to lose.''
Catania will also attempt to avenge themselves after losing to Juventus at the Angelo Massimino in December in a league encounter in what was their first home defeat in around a year.
TEAM NEWS
Juventus
Gianluigi Buffon is back in the Bianconeri squad and has been called up along with 20 others players. Luca Toni has been passed fit to play after recovering from the calf injury he suffered at the weekend. Amauri is unavailable with a fractured nose.
Catania
Catania are likely to line up in a 4-4-2 formation with Mirco Antenucci and Giuseppe Mascara to start as the front-two.
Prediction
Juventus have already defeated Catania this season and will head into tonight's encounter looking to achieve a similar result. The Bianconeri have lost their two games this year but should have more than enough to eke out a narrow win in Turin tonight.
Juventus 2-0 Catania 
