Gian Piero Gasperini isn’t afraid of Cristiano Ronaldo as much as he fears Paulo Dybala and he insists that he would have loved the latter to be sidelined for their game against Juventus.
La Dea will face Andrea Pirlo’s side, who has confirmed that Ronaldo will miss the game through injury.
While Dybala has struggled with different fitness problems, Ronaldo has led the team in scoring and has netted 32 goals from 37 competitive games in this campaign.
He will be missed in the game against their Coppa Italia final opponents and most fans know he is the key man in the Juve team.
However, Gasperini says the missing Ronaldo is Juventus’ problem to deal with, but he would choose to face the former Manchester United man over Dybala because the latter has deadly finishing ability.
He adds that he expects Juve to adjust to fill the space left by Ronaldo and his team would just be focused on winning the game.
“That is Juve’s problem,” shrugged Gasperini in his press conference via Football Italia.
“I trained Paulo Dybala at Palermo, so I knew even then he was destined for greatness. You can discuss many things, but don’t doubt Dybala’s talent. He has this way of shooting, he always gets it on target. I’d have preferred it if he’d been out.
“They might make a few adjustments, but we are focused only on playing the Bianconeri. I don’t see this game as a play-off for third place, especially considering we are going head-to-head in the Coppa Italia Final and that’s when a winner will have to emerge.
“It’s an important match, but there are seven still to go and 21 points up for grabs after that. It’s not going to be definitive. Admittedly, we are teams with very different ambitions, because missing the Champions League would be a huge blow for Juve. Qualifying for a third consecutive season would be fantastic for us and the bare minimum for Juve, but it does mean they need to get there at all costs.”
