27 February 2018
Over a week without a match for the Bianconeri will end on Wednesday as Massimiliano Allegri's side faces Atalanta at Allianz Stadium in the TIM Cup semi-final second leg. Here's what the manager had to say to reporters at Tuesday's press conference:
TEAM NEWS
"Higuain has recovered to make it on the bench and everyone else is available including Khedira. The only ones not available are Cuadrado, De Sciglio and Bernardeschi."
"Tomorrow, Marchisio has an excellent chance to play, in the same formation as Sunday, except maybe one or two changes that I’ll evaluate today."
“[Dybala] needs minutes, there’s no doubt. Tomorrow, I’ll decide. Paulo will be in the match either from the start or as a sub and then Saturday’s match will give him more minutes…he’s much better overall, has had good training sessions and we need him on the field.”
"Gianluigi Buffon will be in goal tomorrow."
FOCUS ON THE CUP
"The Italian Cup for us is a big goal, first of all because in the modern era there has not been a team that has won the national cup four years in a row and this year us along with PSG and Barca have the chance. Tomorrow is an important goal as if it were a final and we need to be focused on that."
"We’ll have to respond quickly to think about Lazio but tomorrow our goal is, of course, to reach the final. It won’t be easy because Atalanta is a tough team looking to bounce back from their unfortunate European exit and they have a great chance to get to get to a final that doesn’t happen often for them. 1-0 is a result that gives you a few advantages, but tomorrow we need to score."
DOWN TO THE WIRE
"We have one game less played than Napoli and on Saturday in Rome we will play our sixth road game in our last eight in the league since we missed Sunday’s match with Atalanta. That means after Saturday there will be 12 games left with seven at home so we have a good calendar.
That said, the title will go down to the last match. It will be a great challenge and the only one in Europe that is still open…in the end the best will win and who lifts the trophy on May 20th will deserve to win the championship."
ALL TO PLAY FOR
"It was important for us to get to March and still be in all three competitions. Tomorrow is our first knockout match. We will either reach the final or be out so it’s an important goal because after tomorrow we either have a final in May or we’re out.
Then we return to the championship and then on Wednesday have another knockout match on Wednesday. At Juventus, you always have the ambition to stay in every competition and not worry about what others say. We’ll keep our heads down working hard and trying to get results rather than spending mental energy on other things.”
