Massimiliano Allegri spoke to the press ahead of Juventus’ trip to Sassuolo on Sunday evening and provided an update on the Bianconeri’s form and his available options for the upcoming games this week.
The Juve coach confirmed that Moise Kean has picked up an injury and will be unavailable for this weekend’s fixture.
With Arkadiusz Milik having started the game against Sporting CP in the Europa League on Thursday off the back of an injury spell, Dusan Vlahovic could be called back into the starting line-up to spearhead Juve’s attacking unit.
Allegri explained: “At the moment I can only say that I believe Kean will not be available due to a flexor annoyance he suffered yesterday. For the others I have to evaluate today in training, Thursday’s game took away a lot of energy, but the players are in good physical condition.
“Vlahovic did half an hour the other day, he’s in good condition, he did 60 minutes in Rome and I think he’ll be in the game tomorrow.
“Milik is better, he’s back after 60 days, he’s played bits and pieces, but he’s a reliable player and I’m happy about that.”
There were also updates on the rest of the Juve squad after the European tie on Thursday evening.
“Di Maria had two 90-minute games both in Rome and on Thursday. Chiesa had a very good 90 minutes, I’m happy with what he did but that doesn’t mean he has to be satisfied. I think he has room for improvement especially to stay within the game, he has qualities that are difficult to find in other players.
In midfield, Allegri confirmed that Leandro Paredes could be in contention for minutes despite reports of a training ground argument earlier in the week, but Paul Pogba is further away from returning to action.
“They are two different situations,” he said. “Paredes is physically fine and is ready to play. Pogba is not.”
Wojciech Szczęsny is said to be doing well after his scare during the game against Sporting, but will not be involved on Sunday.
“If he’s clear and calm he can come with us and be on the bench, so he’ll at least have a day of recovery and rest.
“Perin is in excellent condition and has become an important goalkeeper, compared to when he arrived at Juventus he has made important progress and improvements. He is one of the best goalkeepers there are for reliability and presence in the match.
On the game itself, Allegri added: “This year we have another goal which is to improve on last year’s standings in terms of position. At the moment we have improved it but there are 27 points available and there is still a long way to go.
“Let’s think about tomorrow and score points against Sassuolo, then on Thursday we’ll go play this match in Lisbon. We have to fill May with even more matches if we reach the semi-finals of the Europa League and the final of the Coppa Italia.”