This season, the South American World Cup qualifiers have turned into a major headache for European clubs.
With the CONMEBOL sides all playing on the night between Thursday and Friday, the players barely have the time to catch flights to be on time for the weekend fixtures. No to mention their physical suffering due to the grueling schedule.
Juventus fans remember well what happened following the last international break, when Max Allegri was left with depleted squad ahead of the big clash against Napoli as the South American players returned late from international duty.
This time around, the situation could be slightly improved for the Old Lady, even it it remains far from ideal.
According to la Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Luca Bianchin (via ILBianconero), Juve’s Brazilian duo, Alex Sandro and Danilo, landed in Madrid on Friday night and have now arrived to Turin on Saturday.
There are two major differences between the current situation and the one that the club faced last month.
Firstly, Juventus will play Roma on Sunday night, which means that the players will have an extra day to catch their breath.
Secondly, the clash between the Bianconeri and the Giallorossi will take place in Turin, so the recent returnees won’t have to travel any further to catch up with the squad.
Therefore, Bianchin claims that one of the two former Porto men will start the match against José Mourinho’s side.
While the report doesn’t mention which one, Danilo is expected to be the fresher player after being rested during Brazil’s win over Uruguay while Sandro played for 90 minutes.
