Report: Paulo Dybala to return to Juventus’ starting lineup against Roma

After coming off the bench in Juventus’ last two league games against Inter Milan and Bologna, Paulo Dybala looks set to return to the starting lineup for Roma’s visit to Turin this weekend. That isn’t official word from Max Allegri himself, but it’s what Premium Sport seems to be thinking all of two days before the two rivals face each other for the first time this season.

The formation would likely be a Christmas tree 4-3-2-1 — how appropriate considering what will happen a few days later! — or a 4-3-3 with Dybala on one of the wings.

Either way, Juve’s No. 10 could very well be seen playing from the start rather than looking somewhat sad on the bench come kickoff.

Some of this may well be out of necessity seeing as both Juan Cuadrado and Mario Mandzukic are injury doubts for the showdown with Roma after missing Juve’s 2-0 win over Genoa in the Coppa Italia on Wednesday night. But some of it may also be that Dybala was able to get on the scoresheet at long last in the Genoa win — one that ended a string of six straight appearances in all competitions without a goal.

Over that span, a lot of Dybala-related things have gone down.

There’s been talk about where Paulo’s head is at off the field. There’s been talking from Allegri about what Dybala needs to do to try and get things going once again. There’s been rumors that this could well be his last season with Juventus.

It hasn’t exactly been a quiet couple of weeks, that’s for sure.

But as we also know, if Dybala gets one goal then a lot of others may be on the way in relatively short order. Just look at what he did at the beginning of the season. He basically filled all of our hearts with happiness whenever he found the back of the net — and that happened quite a bit.

The obvious hope is that his goal against Genoa starts another great run of form. Or maybe we should just hope for Good Paulo once again. You know, just another step or two in the right direction as compared to where things have been lately.