After the festive holiday, Juventus return to action tomorrow at the Allianz Stadium against Napoli.
Ahead of the first fixture of 2022, scheduled to kick off at 20h45 CET, coach Massimiliano Allegri assessed the situation on and off the field.
PLAYER UPDATES
“Leonardo Bonucci is out for tomorrow’s match as well as that for Sunday. Everybody knows Giorgio Chiellini’s situation [Covid-19 positive]. We are waiting on the result of Arthur’s test today to see if he is negative. Danilo should be available from next week. Luca Pellegrini and Kaio Jorge have had the flu and have worked individually, so they are not available for tomorrow. Aaron Ramsey has returned from training in England, but he is on his way out of the club.“
AVAILABILITY VS NAPOLI
“There are two central defenders available [Matthijs De Ligt and Daniele Rugani] and three full backs, Mattia De Sciglio, Juan Cuadrado and Alex Sandro.
"In midfield, Manuel Locateli will play in the centre while two between Adrien Rabiot, Weston McKennie and Rodrigo Bentancur will take up the remaining two places.
"Federico Chiesa and Paulo Dybala have recovered from injury. With so many matches ahead of us, I need to assess which of the two will play tomorrow.”
TRANSFER WINDOW
“Alvaro Morata is going nowhere. Last year he scored 21 goals. This year he’s scored seven without taking penalties or free kicks – in his role, he is very important. I’ve spoken to him and told him he’s not leaving, whether the transfer talk is true or not, because to improve on Morata, you need to replace him with one of the four or five best forwards out there. So, Alvaro is staying and he’s happy to do so.
"I believe that there’s a 99% probability that the squad will stay as it is. January arrivals make little impact. We need to improve with what we’ve got. The return of Dybala and Chiesa will give us a boost on this front even if the attack has been doing its job well. The goals have been lacking from midfield and set pieces.”
FIXTURE LIST
“There are six matches in January. There’s the direct knock-out match with Sampdoria in the Italian Cup. Also, we have the Italian Super Cup, and there are four tough Serie A fixtures, against Napoli, Roma, Udinese and Milan. In training over the last week we have worked on the physical and the technical side of our game. We’ve needed these seven days’ work and I am satisfied with how it has gone. We need to take it one step at a time.”
COVID SITUATION
“My opinion on the matter doesn’t count. Those that decide must take the responsibility. We need to prepare to the best of our ability and follow the rules that have been set out.”