Juventus director Francesco Calvo is pleased they finally have a date for their appeal hearing against the 15-point Serie A penalty and assures the club will ‘absolutely not’ get rid of Paul Pogba.
They won the first leg of the Europa League Round of 16 against SC Freiburg, 1-0, and the second leg kicks off at the Stadion am Wolfswinkel at 17.45 GMT.
Just minutes before this interview, it was confirmed that the Collegio di Garanzia will hold its hearing on April 19, so that is when Juventus will discover if the 15-point Serie A penalty will be confirmed or overturned.
Without that penalty for artificially inflating transfer fees to boost capital gains, Max Allegri’s side would currently be clear in second place.
“It is important to have a date, so the team knows it will have a definitive verdict and will know what it is challenging for in the final few games of the season,” Calvo told Sky Sport Italia.
For the first time in 17 years, there are three Italian teams in the Champions League quarter-finals, so today Juve, Roma, Fiorentina and Lazio hope to progress in the Europa and Conference League.
“I want to congratulate Milan, Inter and Napoli for reaching the Champions League quarter-finals, which is an historic achievement for Italian football.
“Italy is certainly behind England, Spain and looking at the infrastructure of this stadium, also Germany. I think the results this week are great credit to the coaches and players who are giving their best. I hope they can also stimulate Italian football to improve itself all across the board.”
Inevitably, there were also questions about Pogba, who celebrated his birthday yesterday with a tinge of sadness after sustaining another new muscular injury that will keep him out for several weeks.
“Pogba is the first to be upset with this situation and the latest injury. I think when you talk about great players, everything is emphasised, both in positive and negative,” assured Calvo.
“I read these headlines in the newspapers saying Juventus are ready to dump Pogba. Absolutely not. Paul came to us first at the age of 19, it has been 11 years since then. He knows Juventus is like a family that gives and also expects in return.
“The important thing is that he is putting in the effort and we wait for him to be able to do that on the field too. We believe in Pogba or we wouldn’t have signed a four-year contract with him.
“We talk to the player on a daily basis, he knows we are by his side, just as both he and us are not happy with the situation.”