Dybala diagnosis confirmed in first post-break injury report

Juventus officially returned from the winter break on Tuesday and began training ahead of Monday’s match with Genoa. As work resumed, the team released updates on several outstanding injuries.

Predictably, Paulo Dybala’s condition was first and foremost amongst the releases. After undergoing tests, the team essentially confirmed the initial diagnosis of 30-40 days out after suffering a thigh strain in Cagliari.

That leaves little margin for error in terms of Dybala’s availability for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 tie against Tottenham Hotspur on February 13. If his injury cooperates and he gets back on the early end of that spectrum—and remember, that starts from the date of his injury, so he’s already two weeks in—he should be ready to go when Mauricio Pochettino’s men come calling at the J Stadium. If it shades more to the 40-day end of things, it’s highly unlikely he’ll be able to suit up.

Today’s update is positive news. It confirms that there were no setbacks over the break and tracks with a report at the end of last week from Mediaset Premium stated that the team was confident Dybala would be ready for Tottenham. It’s worth noting that any questions of Dybala’s commitment, raised recently during his struggles in November and December, might be coming to a resolution, as he forewent any vacation plans in order to stay in Turin to rehab.

Aside from Dybala, the team updated three other injury situations on Tuesday. Claudio Marchisio, out with muscle fatigue, was likewise confirmed to miss about a month. The Bianconeri have enough midfield depth to compensate for that, but it’s more hard luck for Il principino.

Two other players are closer to seeing the field. Gianluigi Buffon and Juan Cuadrado are still training separately from the rest of the team, but are reportedly improving. They’ll miss Monday’s game, but should be ready for game action soon. Barring any setbacks, they’ll easily win the race to get back to action in time for the Champions League.

After so many injury problems this year, it seems like Massimiliano Allegri has hardly ever had his full roster at his disposal. The good news is that the team’s biggest pieces are on the mend, and by the time the business end of the campaign finally arrives and Champions League play resumes, Allegri will have a wealth of quality—and options—to craft a starting XI from.