26 January 2018
THE RETURN OF GIGI
"Tomorrow Buffon will be in the squad but Szczesny will play this one, instead Gigi will start the TIM Cup tie in Bergamo against Atalanta on Tuesday night. In time Buffon will make up his own mind about his future, but right now he is only thinking about playing.
"I don't find it difficult to manage someone like Gigi, because he is 20 or so years into his career and he is not someone that is just starting out. He knows that he was only out of the team because he was injured otherwise he would have played, and from Tuesday he will take back his position in the starting XI.
"I know it's not easy for great players to stop but you cannot stop time and go back, you have to understand that when the time comes that are still another 40 years to do great things in life.
"This rest has served him well in my opinion, because he feels regenerated and so we are all waiting for him with open arms."
TEAM CONDITION
"Marchisio returned to the squad yesterday, it will be hard for him to be called up for tomorrow but he should be there on Tuesday. Dybala is out but is recovering well and next week he will have an exam to check his progress, Cuadrado saw a specialist in Germany this week to ascertain if he needs surgery or simply to continue his current recovery programme. Howedes is still progressing, and Matuidi is fine and available for selection, I’ll decide whether or not he plays tomorrow but it’s nothing he just took a knock in the last game.
"De Sciglio or Lichtsteiner will play at right-back, I’m planning on resting Chiellini. I’ll see today how Alex Sandro is, but if he doesn’t play then I have Asamoah who I believe is a reliable player and he is playing well this season. If I go with three in midfield then Sturaro could play tomorrow, in which case there would be three forwards, otherwise I’ll go with two in midfield and four up top. Bernardeschi could play instead of Douglas Costa in a three-man frontline or with him as part of a four-man attack.
"Although Higuain hasn’t scored as of late he works really hard for the rest of the team, he's had his chances in recent games and will get back among the goals soon."
CHIEVO CHALLENGE
"Although Chievo’s recent results have been poor they haven’t been lacking in performances. In every game they have had a bad result this season they have reacted with a good result against a strong team, for example after losing 4-1 to Sampdoria they drew with Napoli, and after losing 5-0 to Inter they drew 0-0 with Roma.
"Tomorrow we just have to think about the result, because it will not be easy, we have to play with the right mentality. Playing away at the Bentegodi is never simple, they have won the most aerial duels in the league and they are a physical team that exploits set pieces well, this is going to be a very important challenge for us."
