Jose Mourinho refused to be drawn on Roma’s links with Leonardo Bonucci and suggested Paulo Dybala will be ready for the match with Juventus. The Giallorossi travel to Turin on Saturday evening, but there have been doubts over whether La Joya would be fit enough to feature in the game.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Mourinho suggested that the Argentine forward would be available, while pouring cold water on the suggestion that the club might make a move for Bonucci in the January transfer window:
“Dybala as a starter? I’m not telling you. The feeling is that Paulo will be available. Mancini has the same situation as last week, that is, he will play without training, he knows that it is very important. He’ll be in defence with Ndicka and Llorente.
“Juve is Juve and Allegri is Allegri. We know what to expect from them. We are talking about a successful team, I interpret it as a positive connotation. They defend so much and very well, they start again and are good at set-pieces. They once play once a week, which means rest and a lot of tactical work. They are up there for the Scudetto with Inter. We’ll need personality to win against a technically superior team like we did against Napoli”.
“The need for a defender? Need none, desire yes. I don’t want to talk about Bonucci, he’s a Union Berlin player, about Renato Sanches I have no information about a possible exit, it’s obvious that then the situation is not the best. The heart of a club is the fans but there are the owners who are sovereign and the decisions are theirs, but when you do something that the fans don’t like it doesn’t help.
“Pellegrini is improving, I’ve never seen him work badly. Other players maybe yes, him never. This week he has given continuity and we need to take advantage of the moment”.
