Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri confirms South American players, including Paulo Dybala, won’t be available for the match against Napoli and the same goes for Federico Chiesa.
The Serie A giants meet Napoli at the Stadio Maradona tomorrow.
However, they have just 17 players available as their South American footballers on international duty won’t return in time for the game or won’t have enough time to recover after their trip from South America.
“Tomorrow’s game will be a nice one against a strong team. They won the first two games, so we,” Allegri said at a press conference.
“I decided to leave the South Americans at home because they will return too late. Cuadrado was the only one who could have joined the team, but he suffered stomach flu. He hasn’t even returned to Italy. He is in still Colombia to undergo some medical examinations.
This means Paulo Dybala, Danilo, Alex Sandro, Rodrigo Bentancur and Juan Cuadrado will miss the game.
“Luckily, we have three players from the U23 squad, De Winter, Sule and Miretti, who will travel with the senior team, perhaps they can play if we need,” Allegri added.
“This is the situation, I’ve never complained about the fixture list. Some players finished their international games at 3 am last night and would return to Turin at 11 am tomorrow morning.
“We don’t want to run the risk they pick up injuries, so they will remain in Turin to work, it makes more sense. We have an important Champions League game next week, the first one of the season.
“However, this should not be an excuse because all the players on the pitch tomorrow will play a great game. Tomorrow they can prove they are fit, we have an exciting month ahead.”
Federico Chiesa will also miss the game with a muscular problem he sustained while on international duty with Italy.
“Chiesa had a muscular issue, the tests showed no lesion, but I prefer to rest him precautionary,” Allegri confirmed.
“The lad is a bit worried, when you have a muscular issue, there could be something behind.
“It will be an intense game, much awaited by Napoli too. De Sciglio and Pellegrini are ready, I need to decide who will play.
“Napoli are among the candidates to win the title along with other 7-8 clubs, the season is still long and we need to remain balanced.
“There are many games, the first two matches didn’t go as we expected, but this is football, we must keep things simple and start the season because we haven’t started yet.”
Weston McKennie was punished by USMNT for breaking the COVID protocol, so he returned to Turin earlier. However, the American midfielder has been training with his club for a few days and will be eligible tomorrow.
“McKennie trained well, he will start tomorrow, but I still need to decide his position,” Allegri claimed.
Juventus have collected just one point from their first two games of the season.
They were held to a 2-2 draw by Udinese in the first match of the season and suffered a 1-0 defeat against newly-promoted side Empoli at the Allianz Stadium two weeks ago.
cuadrado isa a big blow
Napoli will easily win this, 3 goals to 0. Forza Juve.
Should get a better understanding how good a tactician Allegri is with a depleted squad
McKennie will start tomorrow “but I still need to decide his position”. Um. Ok.
Now every body knows WHy Allegri won 5 Scudettos it’s thanks to Antonio conte work . The team that Antonio contes left for allegri was a winning team.
Allegri is not conte, allegri was just lucky to have coached a well build team by conte.
Now look what’s happening hhhhh
He can’t even build a team .