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Juventus play Torino in a rare weekday Derby della Mole with both sides neck and neck in the standings after the Bianconeri’s 15-point deduction.
In a season filled with departures, there is another one on the horizon with Enrico Zambruno, the legendary voice of Juventus, leaving his post. 14 years with over 1,200 games covering all levels of the club, from youth, NextGen, the women’s and the men’s teams. Coach Massimiliano Allegri started off his pre-match press conference with a note commending the commentator.
“Tomorrow is Enrico Zambruno’s last commentary, more than 1,200 games, so I wish you good luck for the adventure.”
Regarding the game itself, Allegri stated the importance of continuing to rack up points.
“The derby is always an important game for both teams, especially for us. We must continue this climb by increasing our points in the league.
“This match has the value it must have, on the pitch, regardless of what happens outside, we have to get the points to stay in the hunt for top four. Tomorrow will be difficult, we failed in the Champions League.”
Federico Chiesa did not make the trip to Nantes last week.
“Yesterday he trained with the team after six so-so days in terms of work. He can hardly start from the beginning, players who come from a long period of inactivity must be managed. He’s fine though.”
Leonardo Bonucci has also made a couple of late substitution appearances.
“Leo is much better, I’m very happy because he has regained confidence on the pitch. He’s fine but he’ll sit next to me again tomorrow.”
Paul Pogba is yet to play any minutes for the Bianconeri since rejoining the club this summer.
“He’s better, he’ll be called up tomorrow. If there’s a need tomorrow, we’ll put him on, he certainly won’t be able to play a lot of minutes.
“I spoke to him like I do with other players. He has to understand that it’s an important part of the season to get back on track, he has to have all the motivation to do good until the end of the season and give us a hand.”
How about Dusan Vlahovic, who was a second half sub in the win in France on Thursday.
“He’s fine, now apart from Milik who will return after the break, Kaio and Locatelli disqualified, Miretti who will return after the derby, all the other players are fine. It’s always complicated to play against Torino, we have to bring the moments on our side.
“Now to say that Pogba can be a starter for Juventus after 315 days without playing, Chiesa, who has been out for 10 months, is the same thing. We need a bit of patience.”
World Cup winner Leandro Paredes has come in for a lot of criticism from the Juventus fanbase, was it deserved?
“He has alternated between good and not so good performances. For us he’s important, from here to the end everyone must give a hand.”
Have the squad finally gotten to grips with the points deduction penalty?
“We’ve overcome the 15-point deduction. We have a very clear mini-goal to take the ball and not lose confidence because we scored 47 points.
“We know that we have to try to get to the end of the season having scored the points to finish in the top four.
“We have to do this, we have the semi-final of the Coppa Italia, the Round of 16 of the Europa League.”
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