Antonio Conte has pledged to give the Coppa Italia his full consideration as the Bianconeri aim to bounce back from last year’s final defeat against Napoli by going one better this time around.
With Juventus navigating their way through a busy fixture list which includes testing Serie A and Champions League commitments, Conte is expected to hand minutes to players on the fringes of the first team when Cagliari travel to Juventus Stadium on Wednesday night.
Back addressing the media at Juventus Center, Conte began: “It’s one of the three official competitions we’re involved in and we’ll give it our best shot. The Coppa Italia represents a great opportunity to give game time to those who have played less, players in whom I have great trust, the likes of Giaccherini, Marrone, Padoin and Caceres.
“Isla and Marrone have recovered from their respective knocks. Caceres remains a doubt and Lucio still isn’t ready. Everyone else, however, is available. Buffon will play in goal, because Rubinho arrived with a torn muscle and it’s taken two months to get him up to scratch. There hasn’t been the opportunity to test him out, so, given that Storari is suspended, we’ll start with Gigi and then perhaps bring Rubinho off the bench during the game itself.”
The visit of the Rossoblu coincides with Conte’s first game back on the touchline at Juventus Stadium since the memorable Scudetto celebrations on 13 May. It will be an occasion to savour for the Bianconeri boss.
He continued: “Tomorrow will be emotional for me, but I don’t buy into the notion that supporters will come to the stadium just to see me. They’ll turn up to thank the team and see an entertaining spectacle, as they’re used to doing. I hope I can reward them with a win tomorrow.
“The fans have been fundamental in the moments of anger and discouragement. They’ve always pushed me to keep going, they’ve stayed close to me and never failed to show their support. What I’ve missed the most, though, is the physical contact with my players. Embracing them at the end of the Palermo game was the best thing about coming back.”
Conte returns to the dugout with his team sitting pretty at the top of Serie A and through to the Champions League knockout stages following an unbeaten group stage.
When asked if he had noticed a significant difference from last year’s Juventus, Conte replied: “We’re certainly more aware of our capabilities. At this time last year we were still a big question mark. We had already begun to surprise a few people, given that we had we had been predicted a sixth or seventh place finish when we started out.
“This year there’s greater conviction, brought about from winning the Scudetto and Super Cup, reaching the Coppa Italia final and being deservedly top of the league. We’ve got a four-point lead over second place and it’s a good margin, but it could be easily reduced if we don’t keep winning.”
The 43-year-old concluded by reflecting on the club’s progress as a whole.
He added: “This year we dipped into the transfer market without splashing money around, looking to reinforce the foundations we had in place with players such as Asamoah and Isla, bringing Giovinco back and acquiring free transfers like Pogba. I hope that one day we’ll be able to purchase players worth 35, 40, 45 million euros. Then we’ll be able to start looking at the likes of PSG, Real, the two Manchester sides and Bayern.
“Now we need to remain calm and continue our path. It’s important to follow up last year’s Scudetto achievement, whilst maintaining our Champions League run to continue the project started by the club. There are teams like Inter, Milan, Roma, Lazio and Napoli who will do everything to enjoy a strong season and we mustn’t ever give up. We need to be ruthless, determined and eager. It would be nice to win it again.”
Source: Juventus.com
With Juventus navigating their way through a busy fixture list which includes testing Serie A and Champions League commitments, Conte is expected to hand minutes to players on the fringes of the first team when Cagliari travel to Juventus Stadium on Wednesday night.
Back addressing the media at Juventus Center, Conte began: “It’s one of the three official competitions we’re involved in and we’ll give it our best shot. The Coppa Italia represents a great opportunity to give game time to those who have played less, players in whom I have great trust, the likes of Giaccherini, Marrone, Padoin and Caceres.
“Isla and Marrone have recovered from their respective knocks. Caceres remains a doubt and Lucio still isn’t ready. Everyone else, however, is available. Buffon will play in goal, because Rubinho arrived with a torn muscle and it’s taken two months to get him up to scratch. There hasn’t been the opportunity to test him out, so, given that Storari is suspended, we’ll start with Gigi and then perhaps bring Rubinho off the bench during the game itself.”
The visit of the Rossoblu coincides with Conte’s first game back on the touchline at Juventus Stadium since the memorable Scudetto celebrations on 13 May. It will be an occasion to savour for the Bianconeri boss.
He continued: “Tomorrow will be emotional for me, but I don’t buy into the notion that supporters will come to the stadium just to see me. They’ll turn up to thank the team and see an entertaining spectacle, as they’re used to doing. I hope I can reward them with a win tomorrow.
“The fans have been fundamental in the moments of anger and discouragement. They’ve always pushed me to keep going, they’ve stayed close to me and never failed to show their support. What I’ve missed the most, though, is the physical contact with my players. Embracing them at the end of the Palermo game was the best thing about coming back.”
Conte returns to the dugout with his team sitting pretty at the top of Serie A and through to the Champions League knockout stages following an unbeaten group stage.
When asked if he had noticed a significant difference from last year’s Juventus, Conte replied: “We’re certainly more aware of our capabilities. At this time last year we were still a big question mark. We had already begun to surprise a few people, given that we had we had been predicted a sixth or seventh place finish when we started out.
“This year there’s greater conviction, brought about from winning the Scudetto and Super Cup, reaching the Coppa Italia final and being deservedly top of the league. We’ve got a four-point lead over second place and it’s a good margin, but it could be easily reduced if we don’t keep winning.”
The 43-year-old concluded by reflecting on the club’s progress as a whole.
He added: “This year we dipped into the transfer market without splashing money around, looking to reinforce the foundations we had in place with players such as Asamoah and Isla, bringing Giovinco back and acquiring free transfers like Pogba. I hope that one day we’ll be able to purchase players worth 35, 40, 45 million euros. Then we’ll be able to start looking at the likes of PSG, Real, the two Manchester sides and Bayern.
“Now we need to remain calm and continue our path. It’s important to follow up last year’s Scudetto achievement, whilst maintaining our Champions League run to continue the project started by the club. There are teams like Inter, Milan, Roma, Lazio and Napoli who will do everything to enjoy a strong season and we mustn’t ever give up. We need to be ruthless, determined and eager. It would be nice to win it again.”
Source: Juventus.com
Buy on AliExpress.com