Chiellini, Bernardeschi return to training ahead of Atalanta showdown

As Juventus moved another day away from a historic loss in the Champions League Tuesday night, Max Allegri got at least a small bit of good news two days later despite the downtrodden tone that has come with the defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

Juventus announced Thursday that a pair of injured players that missed out on the trip to London earlier in the week, Giorgio Chiellini and Federico Bernardeschi, returned to training, a boost that Allegri desperately needs heading into this weekend’s matchup with Atalanta at Allianz Stadium. The return of the two Italian internationals comes at a time in which depth at their respective positions has been stretched as thin as it has all season long due to a multitude of injuries.

Juve’s other two short-term injuries, Mattia De Sciglio and Aaron Ramsey, are still question mark’s for Saturday night’s match.

Based on the fact that both players are back in training just two days before Juventus faces Atalanta, neither is expected to be in the starting lineup Saturday night. That is, of course, despite the need for some squad rotation based on the fact of just how hard the first two matches out of the international break have been.

Regardless, having Chiellini and Bernardeschi back will help. And as weird as it may sound, having Bernardeschi back might be the more important one seeing as Max Allegri is very much in need of somebody not named Adrien Rabiot capable of playing on the left wing. It’s a spot where Allegri has very much not trusted somebody like Dejan Kulusevski in, which means that Rabiot and Bernardeschi are only his two main options on the left wing.

That has caused plenty of problems both in terms of the overall effectiveness of the team and the logic behind using a 4-4-2 with multiple pieces out of their natural positions.

But the hope is that with players coming back from injury, the chance to rotate the squad and play the players in their proper positions will be more and more prevalent. Until the next round of injuries happen, of course.