Torino President Urbano Cairo pledged to invest further in the squad to challenge for Europe and has a gift for Leonardo Bonucci’s Granata-supporting son.
It kicks off at the Juventus Stadium at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), follow the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
Torino President Urbano Cairo pledged to invest further in the squad to challenge for Europe and has a gift for Leonardo Bonucci’s Granata-supporting son.
It kicks off at the Juventus Stadium at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT), follow the build-up and action as it happens on the LIVEBLOG.
“Superga is a very special moment for us, one of remembrance of our fallen and an incredible team that won five Scudetti in a row,” Cairo told Mediaset Premium after this week’s commemoration of Il Grande Torino’s demise.
“Certainly, the support of the fans at Superga was strong and added further motivation to what is always an important event in the Toro calendar.
“I think the important thing is that we had a good season, albeit not the one we intended to have. We are the seventh most prolific side in Torino’s history, so that is excellent, but we conceded a few too many goals as well.
“If we had converted some of those penalties that we wasted, for instance against Milan both home and away, those would’ve taken us up to 52 points and dropped Milan to 56. At times we absolutely dominated games and peppered their goal with shots and still couldn’t win, so we were not far off success.
“This is a new squad, a new Coach, a new system and many young players, so I think we laid the foundations for the future.
“We intend to keep the team largely intact, though we have a pact with Andrea Belotti that if a club from abroad pays €100m, we’d be obligated to sell unless of course he turned them down. I think it’d be good for him, for us and for Italy if he stayed with us for another year.
“We’ve already signed some players for next season, we bought out Iago Falque, so the investments have been made, but we intend to do more to make Torino competitive for a return to Europe.”
Cairo revealed that the Derby della Mole would be a lot less tense than usual thanks to the presence of a very special little boy – Lorenzo Bonucci.
“We prepared a special shirt for him. It was wonderful seeing such healthy support for rivals in a football world that can be full of poisonous rhetoric.”
Juventus defender Bonucci took his son to see Toro last week.