The very last fixture of the year awaits tomorrow at the Allianz Stadium, as Juventus see out 2021 with a final Serie A fixture against Cagliari.
Ahead of the evening’s clash, scheduled to kick-off at 20h45 CET, coach Massimiliano Allegri pre-viewed the encounter in the pre-match press conference.
THE OPPONENTS
"It's a delicate game, because then there is the break that follows, but we need to be focused. Cagliari are in a false position in the table, they have high technical quality in all areas of the pitch and if we think that tomorrow will be easy, we are wrong. We cannot afford any more missteps.
THE SQUAD
“In terms of availability, we are the same as Bologna. I will evaluate Juan Cuadrado and Mattia De Sciglio and Rodrigo Bentancur for various reasons.
"Matthijs De Ligt has enormous qualities, he's 22 years old and like many of our players has great room for improvement, this must be our goal. Dejan Kulusevski did well in Bologna and I would like to avoid taking a risk tomorrow with Paulo Dybala.
“Paulo Dybala, Danilo, Federico Chiesa and Giorgio Chiellini will all re-join the team on the 30th December. Danilo will be a little behind, but the others will be all fully available.
"Moise Kean should play tomorrow. I am satisfied with him, especially for how he played in Bologna on a character level, with great availability. The right approach and the desire to improve are essential in order to recover the points."
THE FANS
"The fans have always been with us, but we must also be the ones to entertain them and keep them with us. Tomorrow, our fans will be very important for us."
THE FUTURE
"As for the rest of the season, we have to win tomorrow and have a good January. Then, at the end of February, we will be able to understand whether or not we can fight for the title, but if we don't win the next one, our Bologna win will be in vain.
"I feel good in this particular work situation, it makes me feel young. I have different players from the ones I had years ago, we will improve a little at a time.
"We are fine, both physically and mentally. There is always optimism, we must not lose our balance in times of difficulty. We lack the points from those 'famous' five games, but we need to think about the future, improving our goalscoring.
"We have to get to June with this squad, working to improve, each one on their own abilities. We have five months to do it, and we have to stay calm and focused."