15 January 2024
Ahead of Juventus' Serie A fixture with Sassuolo at the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday (kick-off set for 20:45 CET), coach Massimiliano Allegri spoke to the press. Below are the highlights of his pre-match press conference.
Not getting carried away
“The group has worked well, as always, in the last few days and we know the importance of tomorrow’s game. We had a bad night in the first game against Sassuolo, and we know we’re coming up against a good team. The three points up for grabs tomorrow are important, and we’ll have to be very careful tactically. Sassuolo are dangerous if you make mistakes against them, so we’ll have to be switched on.
“We’ve grown in awareness since the first game against them, and we’ve come a long way technically and physically too. I always say that in football it’s important to be balanced, and it doesn’t take much for things to slip. We have to be enthusiastic, both as a team and as fans, but we cannot afford to get too carried away because that’s when mistakes happen.
“The further we go, the less margin for error we have. We know the importance of staying focused now.”
Juventus team news against Sassuolo
“[Adrien] Rabiot is fine, he has recovered. So has [Federico] Chiesa. Just as has always been the case, the players who start the game are just as important as those who come off the bench. I still need to decide if Rabiot will start, and then I’ll have to make some decisions at the back, as we’re missing [Federico] Gatti through suspension.
“The doubt I have at the back is the choice between [Daniele] Rugani and Alex Sandro. [Timothy] Weah is growing and he still has room for improvement, having come in from a different league. He’s learned a lot defensively.
“In attack we have [Kenan] Yildiz doing well, as are [Arkadiusz] Milik and [Dusan] Vlahovic. We’ll have Chiesa again too. [Moise] Kean has undergone medical tests this morning, and he’s now working to get back to match fitness. As things stand, I don’t see Yildiz and Chiesa playing behind the striker because we’ve found a good balance, and there’s always a risk that comes with changing things - and that’s never a good thing to do in the second round of fixtures, as it is always a lot more complicated than the first round.”
Going toe-to-toe with Inter
“We spoke as a team and we know that we’re still missing a lot of things to reach our goal of Champions League qualification, we’re taking things one step at a time, so tomorrow we have Sassuolo and then we’ll think about Lecce.
“We need to avoid making long-term predictions, and it’s better to stay focused on the short-term.
“I’m not thinking about whether or not I’ve won the fans back on side, we’re doing well because of the guys who go out onto the pitch and win matches, everybody around the team does our best to put the team in the best place to go out and do just that.
“There are two big differences between ourselves and Inter: the first is that they are a team built to win the Scudetto, we started off on a different path and we have to keep working without the obsession of winning the Scudetto. We are Juventus and we have to do our very best, but football doesn’t end on May 25, we also have to think ahead to the seasons to come for this group of players.”
