Massimiliano Allegri says Juventus will approach their Coppa Italia quarter-final against Lazio with plenty of determination to defend the trophy they lifted for the tenth time in the club’s history in May 2015.
His men travel to the capital in a rich vein of form after chalking up their tenth successive Serie A victory against Udinese on Sunday, and the boss is in no mood to relinquish the Bianconeri’s purple patch tomorrow night.
As such, Allegri has vowed to pick a strong starting line-up for the meeting with the Biancocelesti as he seeks to maintain the team’s stride ahead of an important run of fixtures.
Here is a selection of his thoughts ahead of the game:
Coppa Italia
“We head to the capital in good shape, the boys are in decent condition. Our aim is to get through to the next round because the Coppa Italia is one of the trophies we want to lift this season.”
Serie A
“We still haven’t achieved anything. We’ve done well to get ourselves back into the running, but now the crucial period begins in all three competitions. In Serie A we’ve got a mini-championship consisting of 18 games to tackle with maximum focus.”
Team selection
“I trust all of my players and will therefore choose the best possible starting line-up for the game. When you have many games in a short space of time it’s the only way of keeping the intensity high.”
J-Academy
“I always bring the odd youth team player in to train with us. It’s a great opportunity for them to develop. Grosso and his boys are doing very well. The aim is to bring a few into the first-team fold, or have them playing elsewhere at a decent level.”