Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri admits he’s not sure if Andrea Pirlo and Andrea Barzagli can play tomorrow.
The Bianconeri are taking on Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League Quarter Final, and both players are recovering from muscular injuries.
“Pirlo and Barzagli are in good condition,” Allegri began when asked about the players in his pre-match Press conference.
“They’ve recovered fully, as have [Carlos] Tevez and [Gianluigi] Buffon.
Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri admits he’s not sure if Andrea Pirlo and Andrea Barzagli can play tomorrow.
The Bianconeri are taking on Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League Quarter Final, and both players are recovering from muscular injuries.
“Pirlo and Barzagli are in good condition,” Allegri began when asked about the players in his pre-match Press conference.
“They’ve recovered fully, as have [Carlos] Tevez and [Gianluigi] Buffon.
“Andrea is 40 or 45 days without a game, while Barzagli has been out for the last four days with a muscle strain, so I’ll have to decided whether to play both of them, one of them, or neither of them.
“I can’t decide until tomorrow morning, I’ll decide what to do in the last training session.
“If Barzagli plays, we’ll play three [at the back]. If Pirlo plays it’ll be four [in midfield]. Since they’re both called Andrea I might not play both!
“As I said before, it’ll be difficult for both of them to play together.
“As for the possibility of [Paul] Pogba playing the return match, there’s virtually no chance.
“Fortunately I have players in midfield who can replace him, ok they don’t have the same characteristics but they can play in midfield just as well.
“Arturo Vidal? He’s going through a good period, because he’s found top condition after a long journey.
“When he came back from the World Cup, he was not in good condition, his knee hurt, it was difficult to stretch, all the things that I’ve been saying all year.
“Now he’s in good shape and it shows on the pitch. I’m very happy and I think he can only improve between now and the end of the season.”
Some pundits have suggested that, with two stingy defences, tomorrow night’s game could be boring, but Allegri does not share that assessment.
“Boring? No. Well, I hope so, if by boring you mean we don’t concede any goals…
“Not conceding a goal at home is very important, that’s what I said in the previous round. Some have accused me of playing for 0-0, but I just want to go through.
“We know that we can’t face Monaco in the same way we dealt with Borussia Dortmund, they’re two different teams and therefore must be approached in a different way.
“It’s more complicated, because when you play against a team which doesn’t concede many goals the games are always more complicated.
“It means you maybe get the urge to throw more players forward, then you leave space which we mustn’t do.
“Borussia had entirely different characteristics, they were a team which was stronger in attack than in defence and the numbers prove it, while Monaco are the opposite.
“When you play these games you have to have patience and humility to face a side which is defensively very strong, so we have to play a smart game from every point of view.
“I don’t know if the game will be boring. Football is unpredictable, because there could be a goal after two minutes and then the game becomes spectacular.
“We just have to focus on our goal, which is the Semi-Finals.”