Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri says “I’ll have to see” if Gonzalo Higuain can face Napoli but “let’s say I’m confident”.
The striker had to have surgery on his hand earlier this week, putting him in serious doubt for the reunion with the Partenopei.
However, there has been growing confidence in recent days that Pipita could be available, and the Bianconeri boss gave an update in his pre-match Press conference.
“[Stephan] Lichtsteiner is out,” Allegri confirmed.
Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri says “I’ll have to see” if Gonzalo Higuain can face Napoli but “let’s say I’m confident”.
The striker had to have surgery on his hand earlier this week, putting him in serious doubt for the reunion with the Partenopei.
However, there has been growing confidence in recent days that Pipita could be available, and the Bianconeri boss gave an update in his pre-match Press conference.
“[Stephan] Lichtsteiner is out,” Allegri confirmed.
“[Juan] Cuadrado has trained a little, along with [Federico] Bernardeschi but they should be available, I’ll see what the situation is today.
“As for Higuain… the hand is definitely painful, but he could be available. We’ll see today, let’s say I’m confident.
“Let’s see how he is, how much pain he’s in, because it’s pointless risking a player for one game when we have another 30 between now and the end of the season.
“So we need to judge things well, together with him.
"Would he play if it was the Coppa Italia final? Well, it isn't the Coppa Italia final, we have 30 games ahead of us so…
"Really, I don't know what condition he'll be in. I know his hand isn't good, it's sore, so let's see tomorrow.
"Today Gonzalo has given me his full availability, so we'll try to be confident."
A loss tomorrow night could see the Old Lady fall seven points behind Napoli in the Scudetto race, does the Coach expect to see the anger and determination of previous years?
“First of all, Juventus up to this point have made the journey we should have done. Napoli have done and are doing incredible things, because they’ve won 12 games and only drawn two, Inter are two points behind them and then we’re four points behind Napoli.
“We’ve dropped a few points on the road, but then of course football comes down to incidents.
“That said, Napoli really are doing extraordinary things. They’re to be congratulated for what they’re doing, what they’ve done for the past three years, and tomorrow is a good test, especially ahead of Olympiakos.
“That’s the first decisive game of the season, because we can’t get it wrong there. We’re obliged to reach the Last 16 of the Champions League.
“I repeat, Napoli represents a good test for us, because first of all it’s a fascinating match.
“We’re playing in Naples, with a full stadium, so it should be a nice night of sport and football and I hope it is. There should be a spectacular game, because it will have technical players in it.
“It’s an important game, which we have to face as the great team Juventus are, with great respect for Napoli.
“Right now Napoli are ahead of us, they’re favourites for the Scudetto and we need to be good at chasing and keeping up with them, getting to March in the best condition to make the final push.
“Tomorrow is an important step, but not a decisive one.”