Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini admits defeat to Napoli “would be hard to swallow” on Friday and admires defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
He missed out on Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Crotone, but is confident he’ll be fit enough for a role in the starting XI at the San Paolo.
“I am fine, I’ll be there against Napoli on Friday,” he assured Sky Sport Italia.
Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini admits defeat to Napoli “would be hard to swallow” on Friday and admires defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
He missed out on Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Crotone, but is confident he’ll be fit enough for a role in the starting XI at the San Paolo.
“I am fine, I’ll be there against Napoli on Friday,” he assured Sky Sport Italia.
“It’ll be an important game, we are aware of it, but we’ll put in a great performance. There is respect for Napoli, but we want to prove that we’ll be up there on top of the table come May.”
Gonzalo Higuain may well miss out, as he had surgery on a broken finger today and it’s a race against time to take on his former club.
“Now that he’s had the operation, he feels better. It’s a complicated situation, but he’ll do everything to be there, because it’s a match he cares about in particular.
“The season doesn’t end on Friday, but admittedly a defeat would be hard to swallow. We don’t want to even think about that, as we just have to put in a great performance and the rest will wait until Saturday.”
Although Napoli are praised for their spectacular style of football, the fact remains they have the best defence in Serie A this season, while Juve are the most prolific in attack.
“The objective is for us to have the best defence come the end of the season, because in 90 per cent of cases that means the Scudetto, while the best attack is just a statistic,” continued Chiellini.
“We have had too many blackouts, too many highs and lows that saw us concede too many goals. It’d be very important for us to leave the Stadio San Paolo with a clean sheet, as that is the most important test for any Serie A team.
“Compared to last season, we have lacked balance and always left out some crucial details. You can’t explain conceding that many goals by blaming just individual errors. It’s true the team is more attacking, but the change of tactics last term probably gave us more enthusiasm in doing things.
“Koulibaly has improved a great deal since he arrived in Italy. He combines physicality and excellent tactical positioning, while he passes and creates moves from the back too.
“He’s only 24, so can certainly get even stronger and I think Napoli will hold on tight to this player. When he uses his physicality, it’s like he’s filling in for three players.”