At Roma, they are already talking in terms of otherworldly.
Nine points behind Juventus with 14 games to play, the leading chasers in Serie A host the table-toppers tonight in the Italian capital with a sense of resignation.
“If we can beat them now, then the miracle can happen,” said Daniele de Rossi, the Roma vice captain.
For that to happen it would mean disrupting what is becoming the most entrenched upper hierarchy in all of Europe’s major leagues.
Juventus set a club record last season by annexing the scudetto for the third time in succession; a fourth on the trot would establish Italy’s title as harder to recapture even than that of Germany, where Bayern Munich’s superiority is leading them at a gallop to a third successive Bundesliga title.
“Juventus look a bit more human than they did in the past,” De Rossi said, by which he meant vulnerable.
That mortality is reflected in the fact Juve have dropped points lately, drawing two of their past five league matches.
Trouble is, human frailties are more easily diagnosed about Roma, who have allowed the gap to broaden in the same period – they have won only once in six.
“We have had a bit of a drop in form in the last few weeks,” De Rossi said.
Roma, runners-up in Serie A in 2013/14, recruited widely last summer to close in on Juventus, aware that they would have the extra burden of European fixtures this season and to fortify them against the loss of momentum that allowed Juventus to catch up and overtake a year ago.
The recipe has not worked; Roma exited the Uefa Champions League in December, while Juve are still in it.
In Serie A, there seems a firm prospect that Juve might claim the title early again as they did with three matches to spare last May.
James Pallotta, the Roma president, wonders what might have been had fitness problems in key areas – Brazilian defender Leandro Castan needed brain surgery in December and Dutch midfielder Kevin Strootman continues to struggle to overcome a knee problem – not afflicted his club.
“We have had long-term injuries. If Juve had lost Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba for as long as we have been without Castan and Strootman, the league situation would look very different,” Pallotta said.
As it happens, injury keeps Pirlo from tonight’s encounter, while fellow midfielder Pogba is also a doubt.
Juventus will miss Pogba, whose range of assets grows with every season, but they have managed most setbacks with efficiency and calm this season.
Arturo Vidal has missed a number of matches, his absences compensated partly by the excellence of Frenchman Pogba, and coach Massimiliano Allegri could point out that Andrea Barzagli, a totem in central defence over the previous three seasons, has not played since August because of a problem with his heel.
Above all, Allegri has overseen a complicated transition with a minimum of fuss – the transition to his own seat in the dugout.
When last July Antonio Conte, driver of Juve’s trio of scudetti, suddenly announced he was leaving his post to take over Italy’s national squad, Roma, Napoli, and even the struggling Milan giants, sensed the Juventus machine might shudder and advantage would slip away from the champions.
Allegri’s achievement has been to maintain the momentum of the past with an approach that many ways seems utterly unlike Conte’s.
Conte was intense, a former Juve player with a fierce gaze and a touchline snarl. Allegri comes across as more urbane, smoother.
His first hurdle was to douse any suspicions that his AC Milan past – he was sacked by them a year ago, having guided Milan to the 2011 title – might have carried for some supporters. His skill has been to make some tactical variations without sacrificing the spirit of Conte’s Juve.
More human? Juventus, in the image of their coach, may seem that.
But, alas for Roma, and Napoli, who are also in pursuit of second place, that does not necessarily mean his Juve are softer.
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