Pirlo: Juve need same big match attitude against smaller clubs

Juventus take on Genoa tomorrow looking to keep up the pressure on second-placed AC Milan who play today, with just one point between the two sides. Coach Andrea Pirlo was satisfied by his team’s effort in the midweek win over Napoli and is looking for more of the same against their 13th-placed opponents.

“It’s perhaps much easier to find the right spirit in a big match like Napoli, but we need the same attitude even against smaller clubs, starting from tomorrow.

“We need to find some consistency and that means facing tomorrow’s game with ferocity. Beating Napoli is meaningless unless we follow it up with the same performance against Genoa.”

Despite his announcement that Wojciech Szczesny would start on Wednesday, veteran Gigi Buffon was between the posts.

“I can confirm Szczesny will start tomorrow. I don’t think Paulo Dybala will start, because he was out for three months, so he needs another slightly longer spell as a substitute first.

“I do hope to be able to use Cristiano Ronaldo, Alvaro Morata and Dybala together at some point. I can say it’s probable Dejan Kulusevski will start tomorrow.”

On the question of if he saw Dybala remaining at Juventus, Pirlo was non-committal.

“I’ve always said Dybala is an important player and unfortunately I haven’t had him at my disposal very much this season. Let’s look at the present, because that is more important than the future.

“He still has a year left on his contract, so we will have him here next season. Dybala is a player who makes the difference.”

Federico Chiesa has been a star for Pirlo especially in recent weeks with his incisive attacking and tireless workrate.

“Chiesa is excellent in one-on-one situations, but he can still improve in other situations and controlling the tempo. He is hungry and eager to learn, which is wonderful to know.”