Daniele Rugani is “focused on Juventus” and aiming to prove that Coach Massimiliano Allegri can rely upon him.
The young defender returned to the Bianconeri from Empoli this summer, but only made his first start for the club in last night’s Coppa Italia win over Torino.
“My dream for the season is to carve out as much space for myself as possible,” Rugani explained to JTV.
“To slowly become a player who the Coach can rely on and trust when I’m needed. Rather than a dream, that’s my goal.
Daniele Rugani is “focused on Juventus” and aiming to prove that Coach Massimiliano Allegri can rely upon him.
The young defender returned to the Bianconeri from Empoli this summer, but only made his first start for the club in last night’s Coppa Italia win over Torino.
“My dream for the season is to carve out as much space for myself as possible,” Rugani explained to JTV.
“To slowly become a player who the Coach can rely on and trust when I’m needed. Rather than a dream, that’s my goal.
“I think that’s what I’ll be doing from now on, to become a reliable player in the eyes of the Coach, who he can rely on when he needs me.
“The thing that has surprised and struck me [at Juventus] is the winning mentality that’s in the air. It’s not just words, when you’re inside you can really feel it.
“So that’s the thing you notice, along with the level of professionalism and organisation.
“Euro 2016? That’s something we could call a dream for this season. It’s obviously difficult, I know that, because you have to play, but I’m focused on Juventus.
“I’m young, I have time and years ahead of me, so I hope to do well here and then the national team will arrive as a consequence of that.
“For now it remains a dream, I’m thinking about doing well, and it would come as a consequence of that, so I’m concentrated here.”
Rugani was also asked to comment on Juventus’ Champions League prospects, after they were drawn against Bayern Munich in the Last 16.
“Bayern Munich is definitely a complicated draw. Honestly, they’re a very strong team, but I don’t think Juventus start beaten against anyone.
“In fact, I don’t think they’ll be very happy to have drawn Juventus. So we have to prepare in the best way.
“We have a few months to do it, and I’m sure we’ll be ready, even more so than we are now, and we’ll definitely play.”
With Serie A heading into the winter break after this weekend’s fixtures, the youngster also discussed the season so far.
“We’ve tackled this last part of 2015 at a high level,” Rugani noted.
“It was fundamental for our title challenge, but we’re still behind and we can’t be content. We have to stay hungry, because we have points to recover.
“But they’re all things which give us confidence and morale to restart again in 2016 in the best way, without stopping. We have to continue this way, starting on Sunday against Carpi.
“Another win on Sunday could see us close the gap to some of the teams ahead, and bring us closer to our goal which is to be fighting for the Scudetto come March.
“It will be a tough game, as they all are. When you play with Juventus it’s normal that every team gives 100 per cent, because it’s the game of their life in a way.
“They’ll be very tight, very compact, and we’ll have to have patience and humility, as well as showing the same desire to fight and sacrifice as Carpi will, knowing that there will also be moments of difficulty.
“We have to be on the same level as them in terms of determination and humility in order to take home the victory.”