Milan v Juventus: Serie A – live!

37 mins: Calabria threads the ball through a thicket of players to Hernandez, running into the penalty area, but he can’t control it and Juventus have a goal kick.

35 mins: Hernandez touches the ball to Calhanoglu on the edge of the area, and a defender gets back, gets a foot on the ball, and very nearly sends it into his own net! Szczesny makes a fine save, and a few seconds later Calhanoglu has another go, and this one goes wide.

34 mins: Now Calhanoglu has a go from 23 yards, but it’s too close to Szczesny.

33 mins: Hauge, making his first Serie A start, has looked pretty decent so far, prompting and probing from the edge of the area. Meanwhile, Calabria has a shot that flies over the bar.

30 mins: Juventus win a corner, which Dybala sends into the area. In the middle Ronaldo leaps, he pulls back his head and tenses his neck muscles, and then a defender gets a touch on it, and the ball disappears.

28 mins: Calhanoglu’s cross flies straight across the Juventus goalmouth and out for a goal kick.

27 mins: Juventus attempt to self-destruct again. Ramsey hits an insane crossfield pass inside his own half that goes straight to Hauge, who feeds Leao, whose shot is turned behind by Szczesny.

27 mins: The level of madness and genius here simply cannot be sustained. We live in hope, though.

24 mins: A glorious, full-speed dribble from Chiesa ends with him blasting a shot too close to Donnarumma, and Ronaldo blasting him for not passing. Chiesa’s touch to go past Romagnoli then was super.

23 mins: Juventus nearly hand Milan a goal from the goal kick, passing it around in their own area only for Castillejo to close down Szczesny and get his studs on the ball, when more significant contact would have given him an open net!

23 mins: And Milan nearly score on the break! Rafael Leao pretty much magics this out of nothing, dribbling mazily towards the edge of the box before attempting a curler which curls just wide of the far post!

22 mins: Juventus haven’t just had the better of the last five minutes, they have absolutely savaged the league leaders. It’s been lions and lambs out there.

21 mins: Chance for a second! Chiesa this time gets to the byline and cuts back to Ronaldo, whose shot hits a defender.

Lovely goal from Juventus! Chiesa has the ball on the right, he passes infield to Dybala and runs into the area, Dybala backheels perfectly into his path, and Chiesa sidefoots past Dunnarumma and in at the far post! That is scrumptious!

18 mins: Another chance! This time Bonucci crosses from the right, but it’s just too high, skims off Chiesa’s forehead and runs away.

17 mins: Damned fine effort that from Chiesa – the first touch on his thigh, the second with his right foot, but he cut across the ball slightly and it was that spin that took it onto the post!

16 mins: Juventus hit the post! The corner isn’t fully cleared and when the ball drops to Chiesa he lashes it against the woodwork!

15 mins: A first significant involvement from Ronaldo, who dribbles down the left for a while before sending in a random cross, which is turned behind for a corner.

12 mins: Good pressing from Juventus pushes Milan back, but they play their way out of it with confidence and a couple of passes later Dalot has the ball on the right and Hauge has space in the middle, but the cross doesn’t quite pick him out.

9 mins: A promisingly madcap start to proceedings. Kessie nicks the ball off Dybala’s toe on the edge of the penalty area and it runs to Frabotta, who shoots a foot or so high!

7 mins: Bentancur tries a lazy backheel on the edge of his own area, misses the ball entirely and Castillejo nips in to take it, but he can’t find the finish!

6 mins: Milan win a corner, which is played back to Hauge, on the left-hand corner of the penalty area. His low cross-shot looks decent, but it hits a defender on its way and rebounds to safety.

4 mins: Hernandez wins a high ball on Milan’s left, but he gets a bit too much of Chiesa in the process and Juventus have a free-kick, inside their own half.

3 mins: And a shot at the other end from Leao, who cuts infield from the left and sends a low shot across goal but comfortably wide of the far post, with Szczesny able to pull out of his dive.

2 mins: Chance for Juventus! Frabotta gets clear on the left, cuts into the area and cuts the ball back to Dybala, whose shot hits Kjaer and deflects into Donnarumma’s hands!

1 min: Peeeeeep! Juventus get the game started. It’s win-or-bust for them tonight, surely. Time to see what they’re made of.

Right, time to tear my astonished eyes away from the goings-on in Washington and towards Milan, where Paolo Maldini is currently presenting a player-of-the-month award to Hakan Calhanoglu.

“Milan are at the top of the table, they have played well,” says Danilo. “They’ve got a balanced team with clear tactics. But we know very well what we need to do to win this evening.”

This man, contrary to appearances, is happy.

The final whistle has just blown in Naples, where Napoli have gone down 2-1 at home to Spezia, their first win in nine games. Napoli remain fourth, but will be overtaken by Juventus if they win tonight.

Team news is in, and tonight’s starters are these:

Milan: Donnarumma; Dalot, Kjær, Romagnoli, Hernandez; Calabria, Kessie; Castillejo, Hakan, Hauge; Leao.
Juventus: Szczesny; Danilo, De Ligt, Bonucci, Frabotta; Chiesa, Bentancur, Rabiot, Ramsey; Dybala, Ronaldo.

Well, this is exciting. Juventus, Serie A champions in 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20, find themselves 10 points off the lead, albeit with a game in hand and with the season less than half-cooked. Thanks to Inter’s unexpected 2-1 defeat at Sampdoria this afternoon Milan lead the pile, themselves briefly enjoying a game in hand on their two closest challengers, Inter and Roma, and would have a 13-point lead over the nine-time successive champions should they win this evening in the first of three successive home fixtures against Turin-based sides (with Torino next in the league on Saturday, and coming back again in the cup next Tuesday).

“We know the importance of this match,” Andrea Pirlo says. “Milan-Juventus always was fascinating as a player and will be as a coach . We’ll do our best, but I don’t think it’s decisive for the rest of the championship.”

Time will tell on that front, I suppose. Welcome! And here’s the latest league table: