Massimiliano Allegri won’t banish Douglas Costa from the Juventus squad, but says he was “surprised” by the “unpleasant incident” on Sunday.
The Brazilian winger completely lost his head toward the end of the Sassuolo game, and has been banned for four games for spitting on Federico Di Francesco.
Tomorrow the Bianconeri take on Valencia in the Champions League, and the Coach was asked if Douglas Costa would be sent to sit on a stool in the stands as Leo Bonucci was against Porto two seasons ago.
Massimiliano Allegri won’t banish Douglas Costa from the Juventus squad, but says he was “surprised” by the “unpleasant incident” on Sunday.
The Brazilian winger completely lost his head toward the end of the Sassuolo game, and has been banned for four games for spitting on Federico Di Francesco.
Tomorrow the Bianconeri take on Valencia in the Champions League, and the Coach was asked if Douglas Costa would be sent to sit on a stool in the stands as Leo Bonucci was against Porto two seasons ago.
“There’s no stool,” Allegri replied.
“I must say that on Sunday there was an unpleasant incident which surprised everyone, not least because that’s not who he is.
“He’s apologised, he’ll pay with a four match ban and he’ll show with fair play on the pitch that this was an isolated incident. That’s always been a strong point of his, in addition to his qualities.
“Tomorrow I’ll decide whether to play him or put him on the bench, but it’ll be a purely technical choice.
“I’m disappointed because it wasn’t a good example for those who saw it, but he was the first to be disappointed at the end of the match.
“He had a good session in training yesterday and today it was the same. He had a momentary blackout which absolutely should not happen, but which can happen.
“He’ll have the chance to play in the Champions League because with the international break four games becomes a month and a half.
“It damaged us as a squad, it shocked us because he did something which was totally out of his character for him. Just look at his career, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.
“He surprised everyone, even himself. I’m very disappointed.”
Allegri also discussed the team selection for tomorrow, with Paulo Dybala missing training on Monday with a foot injury.
“Paulo is fine. Among other things he had a good match on Sunday, both technically and physically. He’s growing in terms of condition, as is the whole team.
“It’ll be hard to leave anyone out tomorrow, especially after seeing training today. Two who will definitely play are [Leo] Bonucci and [Giorgio] Chiellini.
“Then I have [Juan] Cuadrado, [Joao] Cancelo and Alex Sandro who can play at full-back, and I need to decide whether two or three of them will play.
“If Cuadrado plays at full-back and Cancelo on the left, [Federico] Bernardeschi can play as a forward. If Cancelo and Alex Sandro play he can play up-front, or it’ll be Douglas Costa and Cuadrado.”