Lippi comes under fire for one bad week, two defeats, goals conceded and an ageing defence

One bad week hardly seems grounds on which to write off an entire season but after losing at home to Internazionale in Serie A last weekend and then succumbing to Galatasaray in the Champions' League, the Italian champions Juventus are already being told they may as well forget this year's quest for honours, at least on the domestic front. "Juventus have conceded 12 goals in 11 League games," the sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport pointed out this week. "No one has ever won the title with those types of numbers." Thus their coach, Marcello Lippi, has been under fire, despite sending out a side that has scored more goals - 26 - than any other in the top flight. Italians blame Lippi for failing to rebuild a pool of defenders that contains four players over 30. Ciro Ferrara is 36, Paolo Montero 32, Lilian Thuram 31 and Mark Iuliano 30. Juve expect to put matters right against Lazio this evening.

Milan visit Empoli this evening with the opportunity to go three points clear of Roma, who meet Chievo in Verona tomorrow night.

In Germany, second-placed Werder Bremen face Bayern Munich in a showdown that kicks off two weeks in which the top four Bundesliga teams square off against each other. But Bremen see next week's match against third-placed Leverkusen as the tougher task. "The Bavarians aren't the measuring stick at the moment," the Bremen defender Fabian Ernst said. Bremen have run up 38 goals in 14 league rounds.

Next week, in addition to the Bremen-Leverkusen match, front-runners VfB Stuttgart play fourth-placed Bayern, already six points back and in danger of slipping out of contention if they fail against their key rivals.

In Spain, where Real Madrid head the standings with 30 points, second-placed Valencia, two points behind, host Athletic Bilbao tomorrow and third-placed Deportivo La Coruña (27pts) entertain Malaga tonight.