18 March 2023
After qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Europa League by eliminating Freiburg on Thursday, Juventus turn their attention to Serie A and the classic showdown with Inter.
Massimiliano Allegri addressed the press ahead of tomorrow's Derby d'Italia, commenting on the outcome of the Europa League draw yesterday, "Sporting are a good team, very technical and have plenty of enthusiasm," and the certainty of an Italian team in the Champions League semi-final, "It must have been fate, it is a good sign for Italian football."
However, his main focus was on the tomorrow evening's match at San Siro.
THE DERBY D'ITALIA
"It's going to be a wonderful match, in front of 70,000 fans. The Derby d'Italia is a fascinating game. Inter are yet to lose on their own patch, so it's a big test for us. They're physically strong and good in the air. We have to do our best - it'll definitely be a tough encounter tomorrow.
"We need to try to come out on top in these contests with direct rivals. We've lost at Milan, at Napoli and at Roma, but we've beat Lazio and Inter at home and drawn with Roma. It'll be tough to close the gap in the table, but we must remember that on the field we've picked up 53 points."
PLAYER UPDATE
"[Arkadiusz] Milik and Alex Sandro will not be available. I'll need to assess the fitness of a few players, like [Angel] Di Maria, who seems to me to be ok, [Leonardo] Bonucci and [Fabio] Miretti. [Federico] Chiesa is fine, he also scored on Thursday, which I'm happy about. All the others who played on Thursday are available. [Federico] Gatti has a lot of energy and is very lively. He has plenty of room to develop and build experience. He might just play again on Sunday."
"In training today I will need to assess who to pick in attack, because [Moise] Kean is suspended and we don't have many other alternatives up front. Our approach is the key, however."
LOOKING AHEAD
"In the coming weeks, we should get several players back to full fitness. They'll be very important to us in April. It'll be an enjoyable month, full of big games.
"We'll take stock at the end of the season. There are definitely positives. We've got five youngsters playing. We're still in the cup competitions and need to get into the top four in the league. We also need to assess how well we've done on the field.
"Now though let's think about tomorrow evening, then we can recover our energy and take April step by step."
