Most years, a late-season meeting at the end of April between Juventus and AC Milan would garner attention for good number of days before things actually kick off. Throw into the fact that both teams are sitting in the top three, then you have the makings of all the storylines that the Italian press oh so desires: it's the big matchup between two of the biggest clubs in Serie A with plenty at stake.

... well, that's the case most years.

This late-season matchup between Juve and Milan doesn't have the same pop as previous years certainly had. The Scudetto has already been wrapped up. Milan's grip on second place seems pretty safe mostly because the team directly behind them, Juventus, have been playing like a team that might get relegated over the last 12 games.

It all adds to a big game on paper yet one that the papers aren't exactly hyping up all that much at all.

It's all quite the setting for a Juventus team that has one win in their last six, two wins since the start of February and has seen nearly all of their 18-point advance over fifth place from three months ago almost completely disappear.

It's not like Milan's form in all competitions is all the more impressive. While they have four wins in their last six league fixtures, they enter their trip to Turin having lost three out of their last four between Serie A and the Europa League, with a pair of losses to Roma and another to Inter in the Scudetto-deciding fixture happening all within the last two weeks.

Over that span, the only decently positive result that Milan has gotten is a 3-3 draw with Sassuolo in which they needed an 84th-minute goal to even salvage a point.

It's the kind of stretch that has Stefano Pioli looking a lot like Max Allegri - heading into the final month of managing the team that he is currently employed by. (And much like Juve, Milan are already very much in the thick of trying to find a replacement as quickly as possible once the season comes to an end.) Despite all of that, though, Milan can pretty much wrap up second place and move eight points ahead of Juventus with a win on Saturday.

So while these two managers might be lame ducks of sorts with the their respective clubs, there is still very much three important points up for grabs at the Allianz Stadium.

And while Allegri will have a nearly full-strength squad, Milan will head to Turin without three of their four starting defenders, with Theo Hernandez, Davide Calabria and Fikayo Tomori all suspended thanks to what all went down in the Derby della Madonnina back on Monday night at San Siro.

In theory, that should benefit Juventus as they go against a mostly second-string defense that Pioli will be forced to trot out. But, as we know, Juventus has had games where they create very little and can't score the few chances they get, or they create plenty of chances and then their finishing in front of goal is what lets them down time and time again.

That is evident by the simple numbers of the last 12 games in which Allegri's squad has had the form of a relegation battler, scoring just 12 goals over that span.

The only teams who have scored fewer times than that? Lecce, Udinese and Salernitana, who just sealed their ticket back to Serie B with Friday's loss to fellow relegation candidate Frosinone.

That's what we're working with here, people. That's nothing new, as we have known for weeks now, but that's just about the opposite of how you would want Juventus to be playing like as they enter a five-game stretch to close the season where they've got teams sitting second, fourth and fifth still left on the schedule. It's the kind of level of play that nearly cost them a spot in the Coppa Italia final despite entering the second leg against Lazio with a two-goal lead on aggregate. It's the kind of level of play that has seen a very bright season that had Scudetto thoughts from plenty of us suddenly turn into hopes that Juve just don't throw a Champions League spot fully away (even with Serie A now getting a fifth UCL team).

Because, let's be honest, it's not like the first time these two teams met was all that glamorous. Juventus won, but even against a 10-man Milan team for nearly an hour it was far fro man impressive kind of showing. And now you factor in what has happened over the last three months? Oh boy. I'm feeling uneasy no matter how many Milan defenders are suspended and forced to watch at home back in Lombardi.

TEAM NEWS Moise Kean is the only Juve player who is expected to miss the Milan game due to injury. The other two players who will not take part are the two suspended midfielders, Nicolo Fagioli and Paul Pogba. Fagioli is officially less than a month away from being eligible to play in an official game again, with his suspension coming to an end on May 20. At his pre-match press conference, Allegri said that Bremer was dealing with "a slight injury" against Cagliari and that he's "better now," but still has to decide Saturday morning about the Brazilian's status. Two Juve players are at risk of being suspended for the trip to Rome next weekend if they are shown a yellow against Milan: Timothy Weah and Andrea Cambiaso. JUVENTUS PLAYER TO WATCH Somebody in a black and white jersey will have the responsibility of trying to keep one of the most explosive players in Serie A, Rafael Leao, under wraps Saturday evening.

Based on the predicted lineups that are out there, it is likely going to be an American out wide on the right.

The thing is, we don't know which U.S. international. So we'll just go in a broad sense.

You can't completely slow down somebody like Leao because he's just so damn quick, so damn skilled and able to turn the game on its head within a couple of seconds because of his explosiveness. There is no perfect answer for Juventus when it comes to a way to stop him or even try. Do you go with Weah's speed? Well, then you're probably sacrificing some defensive ability. Do you go with McKennie's work rate and overall well-rounded game? Then you're probably sacrificing the simple speed element as compared to Weah.

The determining factor might as well be how McKennie is feeling coming out of Tuesday's semifinal against Lazio, as he was clearly less than 100% for most of the second half. With a one of the few quick turnarounds Juve's had this season between facing Lazio and now Milan, it's not like McKennie - who has easily been one of Juve's best players this season - had a lot of time to get back to something that would resemble full fitness.

But, at the very least, you know damn well that Juventus' defensive game plan will probably center around Leao even though he probably won't be playing through the middle like he did against Inter six days earlier. (Which is unfortunate for Juve since he didn't exactly look comfortable there.)

MATCH INFO When: Saturday, April 27, 2024.

Where: Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy.

Official kickoff time: 6 p.m. in Italy and the Central European time zone, 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom, 12 p.m. Eastern time, 9 a.m. Pacific time.

HOW TO WATCH Television: TNT Sports 4 (United Kingdom).

Online/Streaming: Paramount+ (United States); fuboTV Canada (Canada); discovery+, discovery+ app (United Kingdom); DAZN Italy, Sky Go Italia (Italy).