08 January 2022
Serie A Matchday 21 is upon us, and with it, the Bianconeri’s first away trip of the year, as they travel to Italy’s capital to face Roma.
Ahead of the match at the Stadio Olimpico, scheduled to kick off at 18h30 CET, coach Massimiliano Allegri spoke to the media in the pre-match press conference.
THE GAME
“Tomorrow will be an important match. Roma have excellent individuals and a coach capable of preparing them in the best possible way. Competitiveness and technique will be key in this confrontation.
"My disqualification? Things that happen, no comments are needed. Tomorrow there will be changes, we come from a week of hard work, today I will evaluate the team at training."
SQUAD AVAILABILITY
“The midfield depends on the conditions of Federico Chiesa, Federico Bernardeschi and Paulo Dybala. Alex Sandro will be out, Luca Pellegrini, Giorgio Chiellini and Kaio Jorge will be back, but obviously they won't be in the best physical condition.
“Danilo should also be available this coming week. Arthur is growing and still finding his best condition, so he will be an important addition.
“Tomorrow Juan Cuadrado will play, because Pellegrini doesn't have 90 minutes in his legs. On the other side we have Mattia de Sciglio.”
IMPROVEMENTS
“Against Napoli we expected to win and get within two points of them, coming from a positive period, but we still kept the gap unchanged. We need to improve the quality of our passes, but we are growing. January will be important.
“We have many aspects on which to improve on and we have grown in many aspects too. It takes patience to build and find yourself fighting for the Scudetto again."
TARGETS
"I came here knowing it would take some time to get back to competing for the Scudetto. We could have done better so far, but it's a matter of experience, it's normal to pay for mistakes. In football things don't change in a short time, miraculously.
"We work to improve our game and the quality of our finishing. We want to reach our Champions League goal, and then there are still many other ambitions. To win you need to have quality beyond technique, and it is only experience that teaches you that.
“We work match by match, and after all the direct match-ups, we will see where we are."
