Allegri: Games after international breaks always dangerous

After an especially dull international break, Juventus resume action again this weekend with a hectic spell of games upcoming. First though are Genoa, with their surprise capocannoniere Krzysztof Piatek, who leads all scorers with nine so far.

“The squad is okay, although some are missing a few minutes. Leonardo Spinazzola played 58 minutes of a friendly. Mattia De Sciglio is fine, Douglas Costa too. It’ll be easier to see him during the game. He still has no minutes in his legs.

“We hope to have Sami Khedira back for the game against Manchester United in Turin. Paulo Dybala can play, I have to assess the condition of our midfielders. After that, I’ll pick who plays in attack.

“Wojciech Szczesny will start tomorrow but Mattia Perin will get his chance further down the line – I’m very happy with how he’s doing. The only one who will certainly rest is Giorgio Chiellini.

“De Sciglio is fit and if he plays tomorrow it will be on the left but I need to assess Alex Sandro – he wasn’t involved in the last game for Brazil so he’s not especially tired.”

Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be in the spotlight, but Allegri looked to deflect attention.

“He’s very calm and working well. The rest are personal issues, which I don’t want to discuss.

“He’s brought us great attention and a sense of responsibility, he scored goals and that’s what he does best.”

On getting back to club football this weekend -

“I’ve read that we can win every game but that’s not going to happen. Too much positivity lowers your energy levels. Tomorrow we’re up against Genoa and the last four times we’ve played them at home on three occasions we’ve beaten them 1-0 – the bare minimum. We must keep a low profile and focus on one game at a time.

“Over the next six matches we’ll be playing for our place in the knockout stage of the Champions League with two exciting match-ups against Man United while in Serie A we have the chance to gain ground on our rivals. If we win tomorrow, we’ll move further ahead of Inter or Milan as they playing each other, and we’ll put pressure on Napoli, who play after us.

“We must get stuck into Serie A again with the right level of focus because the first game back after the international break is the most dangerous.”

On tomorrow’s opponents -

“Piatek has been a surprise package and a real poacher.

“I don’t think (new manager) Ivan Juric’s side will be too different from the teams he’s put together in the past. They’ll be very aggressive and play man for man in nearly every area of the pitch, so we’re going to need to put in a strong physical performance.

“They’re a team in all aspects. It’ll be a physical match. There are three points between us and Napoli, in addition to their defeat at the Stadium.

“Is the League boring? For us, no. We must win here.”