Is the fat lady warming up her pipes?

Juventus rivals, Internazionale FC and AC Milan, seem to think so. Or at least they say so publicly.

Last weekend at Inter's San Siro, Juventus defeated Inter 2-1 in a match that was refreshingly controversial for what happened afterwards rather than the officiating on the pitch.

Inter winger and Portuguese international, Luis Figo, is no stranger to insinuations about clandestine meetings between club players and referees either before or during halftime at matches. The Portuguese Superliga was rocked by such a scandal several years ago -- around the time Figo was wearing Benfica red. Chelsea coach and former Porto FC manager, Jose Mourinho, was also a veteran of this Superliga era, and it helped get him in trouble over similar accusations last seasonin England's EPL.

Unfortunately for Figo, he's been one of Inter's better players this season since his transfer from Real Madrid. And he has tainted himself with Inter's culture of loveable loserdom and of generating conspiracy theories behind club failures. Juventus General Director and front office mastermind, Luciano Moggi, was the subject of Figo's accusations. The Juventus office took these accusations very seriously, and what mounted was nothing short of a legal trash talking.

Figo has since retracted his original statement. Like all Inter players of the past 16 years, the reality of losing despite such high-profile signings takes time to sink in and accept. But you would have thought he had learned a little of this at Real Madrid the past few seasons?

As a result of the match, after 25 matches of a 38-match season, Juventus holds a clear 12-point/four-victory advantage over their closest rivals, Inter and AC Milan.

Inter's title hopes are still alive and well in Europe's Champions League, which continues next week, and the Coppa Italia. Inter coach Roberto Mancini is known informally as "Mr. Coppa Italia", given his personal successes as player and coach in this Italian elimination tournament. It's something of a back-handed complement now, however, as it has about the equivalent esteem as winning a third grade spelling bee.