Allegri: ‘Don’t know when Pogba will be back’

Juventus surprised Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium and Max Allegri gave injury updates on Federico Chiesa, Paul Pogba and Leonardo Bonucci. ‘I cannot say when Pogba will be back.’

This was a frankly unexpected result, because the Bianconeri were in their first friendly test in over a month and will not be back in competitive action until January 4 in Serie A, whereas the Gunners resume the Premier League fixture list on December 26.

Allegri also had to field a squad largely of teenagers and players promoted from the NextGen youth team, but still got the victory thanks to two own goals.

“It was a difficult game, they are a technically-gifted team and we had a lot of kids, but we played well defensively. It was a struggle to create chances and could’ve done better, but it is always a pleasure to win, especially in this stadium,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.

As well as the stars just coming off the World Cup or still actively participating in the tournament, Juve were also missing injured players like Pogba, Chiesa and Bonucci.

“Chiesa had a muscular issue, but that’s normal when stepping up the intensity after such a long injury lay-off and we preferred not to risk him. He’ll be ready for December 27. Paul still hasn’t been consistent in training, so I cannot say when he’ll be back. This is the truth and it’s important to say that, otherwise every day we’ll get these questions on how Pogba’s recovery is going. He hasn’t yet started running in training.

“Bonucci won’t be out for long, Juan Cuadrado will only be available after the Cremonese game and Mattia De Sciglio should be back from December 27 onwards. That is also when Danilo and Alex Sandro arrive, while Rabiot and the Argentineans will have a few more days to rest, as they are in the World Cup Final tomorrow.”

It has been a difficult few weeks for Juventus, above all off the field, where the entire board of directors resigned and investigations are on-going into their finances by the Turin public prosecutor, the FIGC and UEFA.

“The sporting aspect has never changed, so we just have to focus on training and winning games,” assured Allegri. “The rest is up to the club, as always. Juventus are one of the most important clubs in the world, there are 120 years of history here and that will continue.”

The coach was asked if he needed to act like a psychologist for the squad during these tough times.

“Of course not. It’s sad that the President is no longer here, because I have great affection for him, but all it does is put more responsibility on our shoulders and we need even more effort to win the games.”

The last 24 hours have been devastating for the world of Calcio, as Sinisa Mihajlovic passed away, followed by journalist Mario Sconcerti.

“There are no words at this moment, I can only send my thoughts to both their families.”