Max Allegri wants to go into the international break on a high and confirmed Manuel Locatelli will captain Juventus against Cagliari. The Bianconeri sit in second place after a string of impressive results, beating Milan and Fiorentina in recent weeks. Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Allegri pointed to the teams good run and the need to close the cycle in the best possible way:
“From all points of view, tomorrow’s match will be fundamental for us: for the standings, because we have the possibility of keeping the gap from fifth in the standings at least intact, but also to close this cycle of five matches between the two international breaks in the best possible way.”
“Tomorrow the captain will be Manuel Locatelli. He’s fresh from his contract renewal, so this will be a nice reward for him to wear the armband. Wojciech Szczesny will be in goal regularly because having just one game per week, on average, you don’t have to think too much about turnovers in the goalkeeping department. Federico Gatti is one card away from a ban, but he will play because we can’t afford to already look ahead to the next matches. The one that matters to him now is the one against Cagliari. In place of Adrien Rabiot we have several midfielders available, I will have the opportunity to choose. In attack? Everyone is fine and that’s the most important aspect. Whoever starts from the beginning will be able to make an impact and the same will happen with whoever comes in during the game, and they have already demonstrated this. After the break, however, Alex Sandro will certainly return and most likely Timothy Weah too. Danilo, on the other hand, probably won’t be there again against Inter. Danilo’s lesion is small, but deep. You always have to be careful in these situations.”
“It’s always a pleasure to meet Cagliari, I had important players available during my time in Sardinia. They were five years, three as a player and two as a coach, wonderful. I still have friends there. Coming to tomorrow’s match, our opponents are coming off an excellent run of form and it will be essential to be compact to bring home the victory. The most important match is the one against Cagliari, who proved to be a strong and well-trained team. It’s a difficult match because we’re coming from an extremely positive period and, consequently, the attention span could be decreased, but I’ve warned my players. We will have to play with serenity, but at the same time with determination to bring home an important result.”
