Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala not called up for friendly vs. Monza

In just a short while, Juventus will take on Serie B side Monza (and their infamous owner) in the return of the Luigi Berlusconi Trophy match. If you were hoping to see two of Juventus’ biggest names take part in that match, you are going to be disappointed.

Max Allegri has not called up star forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala for Saturday night’s match at the U-Power Stadium. The reasons for Ronaldo and Dybala not being called up are slightly different, of course. Dybala, one of the few projected starters who has been at the entirety of preseason training, has been working his way back from a minor muscle injury he suffered in the build-up to Juve’s first friendly last weekend. Ronaldo, meanwhile, just returned to training earlier in the week following his post-Euro 2020 holiday and has stayed back in Turin to continue fitness work.

Other regulars who have not called back include Alvaro Morata and Rodrigo Bentancur, both of which just returned to training earlier this week after their respective holidays. Weston McKennie, one of the few senior squad players to play in Juve’s first friendly against Cesena last weekend, was not called up.

Matthijs de Ligt, who returned to training on the same day as Ronaldo, has been included in the squad, which is starting to look a little bit more like one we will see when Allegri will make his official return to the Juventus bench when the Bianconeri take on Udinese on Sunday, Aug. 22, in Udine.

The full squad is as follows:

Wojciech Szczesny, Mattia Perin, Carlo Pinsoglio, Mattia De Sciglio, Matthijs de Ligt, Luca Pellegrini, Daniele Rugani, Merih Demiral, Radu Dragusin, Koni De Winter, Albian Hajdari, Aaron Ramsey, Adrien Rabiot, Nicolò Fagioli, Filippo Ranocchia, Fabio Miretti, Daouda Peeters, Dejan Kulusevski, Marley Akè, Felix Correia, Matias Soulè, Andrea Brighenti, Alejandro Marques

Kickoff against Monza is scheduled for 21:00 CET Saturday night.