On Sunday evening, Juventus will travel to meet Udinese at the Dacia arena. With the crucial clash against Milan set to be played next weekend, the Old Lady cannot afford to drop more points.
Whilst the Zebrette find themselves in a comfortable mid-table position, the Bianconeri found themselves involved in a thrilling battle for the Champions League spots, with Atalanta, Milan, Napoli and Lazio all taking part in it.
On Saturday, the under-fire Andrea Pirlo spoke in his pre-match press conference, discussing several topics, including rumors regarding his future at the club, whilst naming some of the players who are expected to start tomorrow.
“Ronaldo will play with Dybala, because Morata is not in a good shape. He had a problem yesterday with his calf muscle and we’ll evaluate his condition today,” said the coach as translated by Football Italia.
“We will decide whether or not to bring him to Udine with us tomorrow. Danilo is fine, Federico Chiesa less so, as he trained separately from the group this week. He is not at 100 per cent yet and it’d be risky to start him tomorrow.
“Arthur only trained with the team yesterday due to another problem, Aaron Ramsey is still separate. We’ve had a few issues. Dejan Kulusevski trained with his teammates all week and could start.
“Udinese are a very physical team full of players who also have great technical quality, not just Rodrigo De Paul and Roberto Pereyra.
“They concede very few goals, defend well and are organised. It’s a difficult game that awaits us, but we have an objective in our minds.
Pirlo reaffirmed that he is not affected by the circulation reports claiming that he’ll be replaced by the end of the season or perhaps sooner.
“I am fine, I spoke to the owners the other day, as often happens. It certainly wasn’t the first time,” assured Pirlo in his press conference, as translated in another report from Football Italia.
“We had a chat about everything, as always. I am not concerned when it comes to my work. I only hear rumors from you reporters. I am relaxed and concentrated on what I need to do, I’m not influenced by all these rumors.
“I am so concentrated on what I need to do that I don’t have time to read the newspapers.”
The manager also spoke about the threats and abuse that his son had received on social media.
“Having been in this world for many years, I know what it means to be a public figure. I see nothing new in these insults from people who hide behind a keyboard.
“I’m sorry for my son, because he has nothing to do with it, and I explained to him that he just has to ignore it. This is a social problem. We must eliminate it with calm, hoping we can change the world for the better.
“The team is fully aware that this is a difficult moment. We talked about it, there are five games with 15 points up for grabs, then the Coppa Italia Final with Atalanta.
“It’s a delicate time, we must try to get points to qualify for the Champions League and every match is important, starting tomorrow with Udinese.” concluded the manager.
