Alessandro Matri is confident Juventus will be able to maintain their Serie A momentum when Fiorentina travel to Turin on Saturday night.
The Bianconeri have seen their ranks significantly depleted after 12 players were called up for this week’s international fixtures, but Matri insists the team will be fully prepared for the visit of the Viola.
Speaking exclusively to Sky Sport, the 28-year-old began: “We’re used to many team-mates going off on international duty. We’re in good shape and approached this week’s training following a morale-boosting victory.
“We’ll prepare for Fiorentina by studying our first meeting this season, in which they did very well and gave us difficulty. They’re enjoying a great league campaign, but we’ll work with attention and be relaxed during the build-up to Saturday.”
Matri helped Juventus open up a three-point lead over Napoli by breaking the deadlock in last Sunday’s 2-1 win against Chievo. And the striker thinks that Walter Mazzarri’s side represent the Bianconeri’s most realistic challengers as far as the title race is concerned.
“Lazio are also doing well, but Napoli have been playing together for a longer period of time and they’re currently our main rivals. Yes, they have great strikers, but our team play enables many different players to score and it’s no coincidence that we possess the most prolific attack.”
While competition for places in Antonio Conte’s strikeforce has intensified following the arrival of Nicolas Anelka, Matri believes the Frenchman’s wealth of experience can only be of benefit to the squad.
“The initial impressions are very good. There’s no doubting his quality: he’s always displayed his value, he’s used to winning and has a great international pedigree. The last aspect will be very useful to us, because there aren’t many in our team who can count on such experience on the European stage.”
The former Cagliari frontman ended by outlining his desire to open his Champions League account as the Bianconeri begin to look towards their upcoming last 16 tie with Celtic.
“I would always like to score, but hitting the target in the big games always has a more intense feeling. And I’ve yet to get off the mark in the Champions League…”
Source: Juventus.com
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