17 February 2018
IMPORTANT MOMENT IN THE SEASON
“Right now, we must think about Torino, then next week we will focus on playing Atalanta in the league and in the TIM Cup. After that we will have Lazio away and then the return leg with Tottenham, then Udinese at home before our last game before the international break at SPAL. Therefore, it’s an important period for us coming up, Napoli will also have their matches to play but we cannot think about them, only about ourselves and winning games.
"Tomorrow it’s going to be a difficult match as it’s a derby, and with a derby game you have to play with the right mentality, with technique and physicality. Then after we get through the match, we will think about what we have coming up, because you have the play these games one at a time without thinking about what will happen.
“After the draw against Tottenham we still have the same probability of reaching the next round before the game began, but for us it was one of the worst games we have played from a technical aspect, considering that only 55% of our passes were successful. In the Champions League you can’t make too many mistakes, but that said we had a lot of chances and I saw some positives ahead of our second leg at Wembley. In the return leg against Tottneham we'll have to be better, Tottenham has for years improved their attack, defence and have a top scorer in the Premier League, they're not an easy team.”
DERBY TEAM NEWS
"Unfortunately for us Mandzukic has a high fever and will not be available tomorrow, Cuadrado has started running again and is definitely in better condition, but he’s not yet ready to return to the squad. Matuidi will be back next week, so we should be close to having a full squad.
“Tomorrow, Buffon will have a rest as planned and Szczesny will play in his place. We spoke with Gigi and we had planned for him to play a lot of games in succession and then rest, he will take his place back in the goal against Atalanta. Bernardeschi had some fatigue yesterday after the end of training, he will be in the squad but he’ll be evaluated.
“Dybala is in good condition, but he’s not ready to play from the start but maybe he could come on for half an hour or so, also Howedes is back in the squad and is feeling good. Pjanic and Khedira will play in the midfield tomorrow, but I haven’t decided who the third will be yet.”
TORINO IMPROVEMENT
“Tomorrow we are preparing to face Torino, who are playing very well right now and in five games under Mazzarri they have won three and drawn twice. The new manager has given them different ideas and they have tightened up at the back, having not yet conceded a goal at home. Although I'm not close with Mazzarri, I know that he's a manager who has achieved excellent things by getting the most out of his squad to achieve good results. Torino will be hard to play against and it will be a game that will be decided on key moments and even set pieces.”
