Serie A Matchday 11: Who plays who, when and where?

With Roma heading to Bologna on Sunday, here’s how Matchday 11 of the 2020-21 Serie A campaign looks in Italy this weekend, where tributes will be paid to 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi all over the country.

FRIDAY 11 DECEMBER

Sassuolo v Benevento
Mapei Stadium, 20:45 CET

Having flown out of the traps and seeing themselves sit second by the end of Matchday 8, Sassuolo have failed to score in their last two - a 3-0 defeat to Inter Milan and the 0-0 draw with 10-man Roma last weekend - as they slipped to eighth-place, without the likes of injured quintet Francesco Caputo, Vlad Chiriches, Gregoire Defrel, Federico Ricci and Filippo Romagna.

The visitors are unbeaten in their last three (W1, D2) - the first time they have gone as many Serie A games without defeat in the club’s history - but they too have five absentees in the shape of Luca Caldirola, Iago Falque, Christian Maggio, Gabriele Moncini and Nicolas Viola.

SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER

Crotone v Spezia
Ezio Scida, 15:00 CET

The 4-0 mauling by Napoli on MD10 stretched Crotone’s winless run into double figures to leave them four games without scoring and firmly rooted to the bottom of the table on just two points as they welcome Spezia to the Ezio Scida without the suspended Jacopo Petriccione - who saw red in that defeat to Napoli.

Both sides claimed 2-1 wins over the other in Serie B last term and Spezia are making much more of a fist of things in the top-flight under tricky circumstances, with no less than seven first team players still missing through injury.

Torino v Udinese
Olimpico Grande Torino, 18:00 CET

Torino thought they were set for a famous Derby della Mole win over rivals Juventus on Saturday before the Old Lady’s late comeback sealed a 2-1 victory, but Toro will hope they can take the spirit shown in that match into MD11 as they look to end a seven-game sequence without a win.

Udinese are a side on the rise after two wins from their last two and while the weather accounting for their last match against Atalanta, the extra week could possibly open the door for coach Luca Gotti, Sebastien De Maio, Kevin Lasagna, Rolando Mandragora, Ilija Nestorovski, Stefano Okaka and Thomas Ouwejan to all return from coronavirus.

Lazio v Hellas Verona
Stadio Olimpico, 20:45 CET

Simone Inzaghi’s side scraped into the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 2-2 home draw with Club Brugge this week as they again relied on captain Ciro Immobile to deliver the goods, with the 30-year-old scoring in a ninth successive game in all competitions.

Verona are keeping pace with the European contenders so far this season and are just a point off Lazio going into Saturday’s encounter, meaning they could leapfrog their hosts with victory.

SUNDAY 13 DECEMBER

Cagliari v Inter Milan
Sardegna Arena, 12:30 CET

Cagliari were frustrated with a 1-1 draw at Verona last Sunday but coach Eusebio Di Francesco’s hopes of ending a run of three league games without victory could be boosted should Diego Godin, Nahitan Nandez and Giovanni Simeone all return from coronavirus.

It’s been a tough week for Antonio Conte and Inter who will be smarting after exiting the Champions League courtesy of a lame 0-0 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, a result that saw them finish bottom of the pile in Group B when one goal would have sent them into the last-16.

Atalanta v Fiorentina
Gewiss Stadium, 15:00 CET

Pre-match talk of a dressing room row between Gian Piero Gasperini, Papu Gomez and Josip Ilicic couldn’t stop Atalanta from progressing from Group D of the Champions League with a 1-0 win at Ajax and Gasperini will be hoping his side now focus on a busy Christmas period domestically after picking up just one Serie A win from their last six.

Fiorentina themselves are five without a league win (D2, L3) and Cesare Prandelli will be delighted if his side can beat Atalanta for the first time since February 2016 as the 63-year-old goes in search of a first victory since returning to the club.

Bologna v Roma
Renato Dall’ara, 15:00 CET

Having ended their 41-game run without a Serie A clean sheet against Crotone on MD9, Bologna were most recently dismantled by Inter Milan and saw keeper Lukasz Skorupski fracture a finger in training this week to leave 37-year-old Brazilian Angelo da Costa to make just a sixth Serie A appearance in three years.

Both Pedro and coach Paulo Fonseca will be sidelined for the trip to Bologna after their respective sendings off in the 0-0 draw with Sassuolo last Sunday, but they should be able to call upon Chris Smalling once again after he returned to the squad for Thursday’s trip to CSKA Sofia.

Napoli v Sampdoria
Diego Armando Maradona, 15:00

This is set to be an historic fixture as Napoli play their first Serie A game at the renamed Diego Armando Maradona stadium and they do so buoyed by back-to-back 4-0 victories in the league, but without Victor Osimhen who will remain sidelined until at least 20 December.

Sampdoria, who have conceded at least two in each of their last four matches, will not welcome a trip to an invigorated Napoli but they need to quickly address a five game run without victory (D2, L3) if they are to halt their current slide down the table.

Genoa v Juventus
Ciro Vigorito, 18:00 CET

Marko Pjaca’s 89th-minute effort looked to have delivered Genoa’s second win of the season but they were denied that nine minutes later, as Fiorentina nicked a 1-1 draw at the Artemio Franchi last time out. That result leaves Genoa without a win in nine (D3, L6) and second-bottom.

Andrea Pirlo’s men have been called into question at times this season but they are still unbeaten in the league (W5, D5), have eased into the UCL knockouts with a dominant win over Barcelona at the Camp Nou - goat tweet included - and look far more settled at the back now that Leonardo Bonucci has returned to the side.

AC Milan v Parma
Giuseppe Meazza, 20:45 CEST

Milan have led Serie A since their MD4 dismissal of city rivals Inter and they will remain top at the end of the weekend regardless of what happens, courtesy of their five point cushion earned by AC's record start to a Serie A campaign after 10 games.

The visitors may have lost just one of their last six in the league, but just one of those matches has ended in victory (W1, D4, L1) and although Parma will be keen to turn some of those draws into wins, they’d take a point away to the current pace-setters.