Juventus Champions League campaign 2016-17

Are people really that confident with the way we're playing that we can so comfortably pass the biggest teams in the competition?

We got outplayed comfortably by Inter and AC Milan, imagine what an undefeated Madrid or a full strength (AKA not the team they played against Rostov) Bayern could do to us

What is the difference between an undefeated Madrid and this juve? You highlight our games but not theirs. They've been relying in 90 minute goals to get them through the group. They barely salvaged a point at Legia and had more than their share of luck in the tie against Sporting.

Same for Bayern. The team they fielded against Rostov was not any more depleted than ours that beat Sevilla. We were missing 4 starters, same as them.

Plus you will probably agree that Atletico and Barca aren't dazzling anyone either.

None of the big teams are standing out this season.

The difference is they have a top 2 attacker in the World, a shit load of pace and counter attacking threat and their midfield isn't playing like shit for the most part.

I agree there's no 'top' team playing a cut above the rest, not like say the 2012 Bayern team that was just unbelievable. But we're playing like shit but thankfully we're so far getting the results.

How we got 4 points out of 6 from a poor Lyon side is still beyond me, Buffon played his best game in a long time which is saying something and Lacazette was horrific.

If we can't create chances against decent 11 man sides what on earth will we do against these teams.

There is no difference. Madrid just like Juve is getting great results without fluid play. Same exact situation. Both have a smashing pace in their leagues. Both are qualified for the R16. Both can't find their game.

We drew Lyon, sure. They drew Legia...

We drew Sevilla. They drew Dortmund, and will play them once more.

We are top of our group. They are second.

You are just being extra hard on Juve because its the club we follow closely. Just head over to the Madrid section and see the thread on how this team plays "the worst football in the recent history of Madrid".

The criticism are basically a mirror image of ours' over here.

Saying "we are playing like shot but thankfully we are getting results" is pretty much exactly what most say about Zidane's Madrid.

Then you have Bayern second in the BL and having lost to Atletico and Rostov.

Atletico themselves are like 5th in la liga.

Barca has fallen behind Madrid and has lost to City in the CL.

Everyone is dealing with a bunch of scrap. No reason to see them ahead of us.

You can compare us to them Rincon, but our league is much easier no doubt about that. All teams except for Napoli Roma Inter Milan actually face us. The rest are just happy to get a draw. The BPL and La Liga is much more competitive and the pressure is more on the big teams. From the top 5 leagues, the Italian league is the only league in which a team is leading by 7 points. When we are thrashing those scrub Italian teams but draw against Lyon and Sevilla with a poor performance, it is worrying. We become like Shakhtar or any minor league team, that domimates their league but do badly in Europe.

We must step up our game in Europe. As Tom said, with this performance we aren't going anywhere.

That doesn't hold when you realize that Madrid, RB Leipzig and Nice all have basically the same points per game as Juve. Even Chelsea is just 2 points off the mark if they win their next game. All the league leaders across europe have the same pace as we do. Everyone says we are trashing scrubs, are Lepizig, Nice, Madrid and Chelsea not trashing scrubs then? If they are not, then is that list of teams better than Juve?

The only league more quality teams is in Spain. But even there, the gap is gigantic between the top few and the rest.

It is not Juve's or Serie A's fault that PSG and Bayern aren't top of their leagues. That is NOT a signal of BL or Ligue 1 quality being higher than Serie A. That is a signal of PSG and Bayern being worse than they usually are. One look at Nice and Leipzig tells you that.

Everybody rates Atletico, yet the Sevilla that people are worried that we didn't smash is 3 places ahead of them in the league and beat them at home.

Too many inconsistencies with these arguments and everyone just seems too afraid to rate our own team.

Criticizing our performances is fine, but putting other teams on a pedestal just because they are not Juve is being far too harsh.

I am not saying that we are playing at our peak or that we are blowing everyone away, I am saying that every league and CL leader in europe is having at least the same struggles as we are, if not more.

rincon wrote:That doesn't hold when you realize that Madrid, RB Leipzig and Nice all have basically the same points per game as Juve. Even Chelsea is just 2 points off the mark if they win their next game. All the league leaders across europe have the same pace as we do. Everyone says we are trashing scrubs, are Lepizig, Nice, Madrid and Chelsea not trashing scrubs then? If they are not, then is that list of teams better than Juve?

The only league more quality teams is in Spain. But even there, the gap is gigantic between the top few and the rest.

It is not Juve's or Serie A's fault that PSG and Bayern aren't top of their leagues. That is NOT a signal of BL or Ligue 1 quality being higher than Serie A. That is a signal of PSG and Bayern being worse than they usually are. One look at Nice and Leipzig tells you that.

Everybody rates Atletico, yet the Sevilla that people are worried that we didn't smash is 3 places ahead of them in the league and beat them at home.

Too many inconsistencies with these arguments and everyone just seems too afraid to rate our own team.

Criticizing our performances is fine, but putting other teams on a pedestal just because they are not Juve is being far too harsh.

I am not saying that we are playing at our peak or that we are blowing everyone away, I am saying that every league and CL leader in europe is having at least the same struggles as we are, if not more.

We are getting results and our team is playing shitty while we are still not in shape but we are getting there plus this year we are making transition to another formation. Even Marchisio said we need time. Its unfair not so long ago we had no subs in the midfield which consisted of Lemina, Pjanic and Asamoah ffs. BArzagli is out, our best player from last season (Dybala) is out also our biggest transfer Higuain. Marchisio is coming from an injury.

Give it time stop being so negative and yeah I agree with rincon no one is above us right now.

Full team Juve and on form can beat anyone in CL. Its the same talk as last year but this time we are first in Serie A and CL group if his match was played last year or any other we would have drawn or lost against Sevilla. Btw I don't think that this season Serie A is so weak. Just look at Torino and Atalanta who have players that play in the NT.

i think we have some experienced players,
some really good players,
all who can show good strengths on important moments,

evra, alves, bbc, benatia, sandro, cuadrado, khedira, marchisio, pjanic, dybala, higuain, mandzukic, buffon

these guys are all good, i hope to have them all ready to play

I am not worried about the results. The results are good, not great (like against Milan teams). It is the performance as you say Rincon.

@Deviangel: The fact that Torino and Atalanta players are being chosen for the NT is just an indication that the big teams aren't capable of providing many great young players thus chosing Belotti, Zappacosta, Baselli etc... Juve have the best Italian players, but all of them are above 29+ now (B-BBC-M). I won't consider Sturaro because he needs LOTS of improvement.

C'mon who is Belotti!? As Mihajlovic was saying, back in the day, he would cost 100m if he played the way Belotti is playing. I know it is just hope that Belotti may come great, but he is just another Ciro Immobile, an average striker to be and his price tag is nowhere close 100m. If Juve were to buy him, I wouldn't pay more than 20m. Belotti, Zaza, Immobile all in the same level, but sometimes one has a better form than the other. If Belotti was to go to United, he would end up exactly like Darmian. Ridiculous. Price of Belotti = Higuain is just insane.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/723/serie-a/2016/11/25/29744902/the-new-christian-vieri-italy-sensation-belotti-is-now-the

It is a shame that Belotti is being compared to Bobo Vieri. Italy need real strikers, not an overrated Belotti. I'm not saying that Belotti is not doing well, but the media hype on him is just way too much, like Immobile 3 years ago.

Devi, in reality Serie A is actually weak. There is no competition for Juve. Look at Roma bro. They win one game and then the second, third... Then they play against Empoli (who we thrashed 3-0) and get a 0-0 draw. Where is the logic in that when the 2nd place team cannot win against a struggling team this season? (currently 17th with 7 points). Serie A will be back when Inter and Milan are back and better than Roma, who can't even pass to the CL group stages.

salmano9 wrote:I am not worried about the results. The results are good, not great (like against Milan teams). It is the performance as you say Rincon.

@Deviangel: The fact that Torino and Atalanta players are being chosen for the NT is just an indication that the big teams aren't capable of providing many great young players thus chosing Belotti, Zappacosta, Baselli etc... Juve have the best Italian players, but all of them are above 29+ now (B-BBC-M). I won't consider Sturaro because he needs LOTS of improvement.

C'mon who is Belotti!? As Mihajlovic was saying, back in the day, he would cost 100m if he played the way Belotti is playing. I know it is just hope that Belotti may come great, but he is just another Ciro Immobile, an average striker to be and his price tag is nowhere close 100m. If Juve were to buy him, I wouldn't pay more than 20m. Belotti, Zaza, Immobile all in the same level, but sometimes one has a better form than the other. If Belotti was to go to United, he would end up exactly like Darmian. Ridiculous. Price of Belotti = Higuain is just insane.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/723/serie-a/2016/11/25/29744902/the-new-christian-vieri-italy-sensation-belotti-is-now-the

It is a shame that Belotti is being compared to Bobo Vieri. Italy need real strikers, not an overrated Belotti. I'm not saying that Belotti is not doing well, but the media hype on him is just way too much, like Immobile 3 years ago.

Devi, in reality Serie A is actually weak. There is no competition for Juve. Look at Roma bro. They win one game and then the second, third... Then they play against Empoli (who we thrashed 3-0) and get a 0-0 draw. Where is the logic in that when the 2nd place team cannot win against a struggling team this season? (currently 17th with 7 points). Serie A will be back when Inter and Milan are back and better than Roma, who can't even pass to the CL group stages.

I don't even want to begin to explain and reply to the post salmano you know I like you its nothing personal but I am dead tired and honestly time will tell. I am simply tired.

DeviAngel wrote:

salmano9 wrote:I am not worried about the results. The results are good, not great (like against Milan teams). It is the performance as you say Rincon.

@Deviangel: The fact that Torino and Atalanta players are being chosen for the NT is just an indication that the big teams aren't capable of providing many great young players thus chosing Belotti, Zappacosta, Baselli etc... Juve have the best Italian players, but all of them are above 29+ now (B-BBC-M). I won't consider Sturaro because he needs LOTS of improvement.

C'mon who is Belotti!? As Mihajlovic was saying, back in the day, he would cost 100m if he played the way Belotti is playing. I know it is just hope that Belotti may come great, but he is just another Ciro Immobile, an average striker to be and his price tag is nowhere close 100m. If Juve were to buy him, I wouldn't pay more than 20m. Belotti, Zaza, Immobile all in the same level, but sometimes one has a better form than the other. If Belotti was to go to United, he would end up exactly like Darmian. Ridiculous. Price of Belotti = Higuain is just insane.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/723/serie-a/2016/11/25/29744902/the-new-christian-vieri-italy-sensation-belotti-is-now-the

It is a shame that Belotti is being compared to Bobo Vieri. Italy need real strikers, not an overrated Belotti. I'm not saying that Belotti is not doing well, but the media hype on him is just way too much, like Immobile 3 years ago.

Devi, in reality Serie A is actually weak. There is no competition for Juve. Look at Roma bro. They win one game and then the second, third... Then they play against Empoli (who we thrashed 3-0) and get a 0-0 draw. Where is the logic in that when the 2nd place team cannot win against a struggling team this season? (currently 17th with 7 points). Serie A will be back when Inter and Milan are back and better than Roma, who can't even pass to the CL group stages.

I don't even want to begin to explain and reply to the post salmano you know I like you its nothing personal but I am dead tired and honestly time will tell. I am simply tired.

Hahahahahahaah

salmano9 wrote:I am not worried about the results. The results are good, not great (like against Milan teams). It is the performance as you say Rincon.

@Deviangel: The fact that Torino and Atalanta players are being chosen for the NT is just an indication that the big teams aren't capable of providing many great young players thus chosing Belotti, Zappacosta, Baselli etc... Juve have the best Italian players, but all of them are above 29+ now (B-BBC-M). I won't consider Sturaro because he needs LOTS of improvement.

C'mon who is Belotti!? As Mihajlovic was saying, back in the day, he would cost 100m if he played the way Belotti is playing. I know it is just hope that Belotti may come great, but he is just another Ciro Immobile, an average striker to be and his price tag is nowhere close 100m. If Juve were to buy him, I wouldn't pay more than 20m. Belotti, Zaza, Immobile all in the same level, but sometimes one has a better form than the other. If Belotti was to go to United, he would end up exactly like Darmian. Ridiculous. Price of Belotti = Higuain is just insane.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/723/serie-a/2016/11/25/29744902/the-new-christian-vieri-italy-sensation-belotti-is-now-the

It is a shame that Belotti is being compared to Bobo Vieri. Italy need real strikers, not an overrated Belotti. I'm not saying that Belotti is not doing well, but the media hype on him is just way too much, like Immobile 3 years ago.

Devi, in reality Serie A is actually weak. There is no competition for Juve. Look at Roma bro. They win one game and then the second, third... Then they play against Empoli (who we thrashed 3-0) and get a 0-0 draw. Where is the logic in that when the 2nd place team cannot win against a struggling team this season? (currently 17th with 7 points). Serie A will be back when Inter and Milan are back and better than Roma, who can't even pass to the CL group stages.

I got some time, I wanted to respond to this.

A lot to argue here.

You are comparing players that have talent levels that are far too different. Zaza is nowhere near as talented as Immobile. Not even close. I like having Zaza because of his effort and charm, but its a different league. Immobile had 1 year of being subpar, thats all. He is not Higuain either, but just watching one game of both should tell you that Zaza can never dribble and pass like Immobile. He became cappocanoniere at 24, you can bet your house that Zaza will never be.

Then Belotti, how is the comparison to Vieri not adequate? Belotti from 21yo has been doing great things. Things Vieri wasn't doing. They even play similarly. Will he become as good as Vieri? can't say, he is 22.

There is this pessimism about Serie A because of the decline it experienced, and about Italian youngsters because of this last disappointing generation. Well its past now. We are allowed to rate players again. The difference between this young generation of Italian players and the last is clear as day.

Think about Serie A 5 seasons ago when we won the first title with Conte. A good Milan, but in decline was our main rival. They actually had a good team and we almost didn't win. Past that...? Napoli was solid but had an absolute shit midfield and exclusively relied in their front 3. Roma was in a dip with the end of Rainieri, then Montella and Luis Enrique. Inter was nowhere to be found. Then there were solid teams in Lazio, Sampdoria (before they sold Cassano and Pazzini) and Udinese (Alexis' team).

Compare that to today. The big teams back then had no coherency in their play because everyone was going through a transitional period. Everyone had just a group of solid players that were halfway out or halfway in. The Milan or Roma squads made 0 sense.

Now, watch a Roma or Napoli game. these are not teams transitioning like everyone else was. Spalletti and Sarri could have won the scudetto 5 years ago with their teams, no doubt. Last season's Napoli push, Garcia's Roma push, this season's Roma push. These are all campaigns that could very much win the scudetto in regular times if Juve wasn't going god mode. Then you have Milan who look reborn. They won't win now, and wouldn't have won before, but they are MUCH better than they were since 4 seasons ago.

Inter is crap, which is great. But 1 look at their squad tells you its miles better than its been since the trebble.

Torino, Lazio, Atalanta are at high points of their recent history. The Lazio that qualified for CL a couple of seasons ago is not playing better than this one. In that season the list of quality teams in Serie A ended with Lazio. Now? there is little difference between the 4th and the 6th positions.

Look at 1st through 9th place. Their performances and squads are sooooooo much better than they were 3-5 years ago. It should be obvious. Sousa's Fiore is 9th, that should say it all.

This whole downplaying of Serie A is nothing more than a habit now. Nothing in the BL and EPL separates them from it.

Just look at the Napoli that was by a mile the second best team in Serie A


This is the team that is 7th today (and has a better manager than before)


I mean, come on. Almost the entire mid and defense bench of the current Napoli would start back then.

Wouldn't you take Diawara, Zielinski, Maksimovic, Tonelli, Giaccherini and Strinic over the other scrubs?

rincon wrote:Just look at the Napoli that was by a mile the second best team in Serie A

Hamsik Cavani Lavezzi

Zuniga Gargano Inler Maggio

Aronica Campagnaro Cannavaro

De Sanctis

This is the team that is 7th today (and has a better manager than before)

Insigne Mertens Callejon

Hamsik Jorginho Allan

Ghoulam Koulibaly Albiol Hysaj

Reina

I mean, come on. Almost the entire mid and defense bench of the current Napoli would start back then.

Wouldn't you take Diawara, Zielinski, Maksimovic, Tonelli, Giaccherini and Strinic over the other scrubs?

Don't forget Rog, he is great talent and player.

More to the point, but we havent seen him in the league so I thought it was unfair to mention him.

rincon wrote:

salmano9 wrote:I am not worried about the results. The results are good, not great (like against Milan teams). It is the performance as you say Rincon.

@Deviangel: The fact that Torino and Atalanta players are being chosen for the NT is just an indication that the big teams aren't capable of providing many great young players thus chosing Belotti, Zappacosta, Baselli etc... Juve have the best Italian players, but all of them are above 29+ now (B-BBC-M). I won't consider Sturaro because he needs LOTS of improvement.

C'mon who is Belotti!? As Mihajlovic was saying, back in the day, he would cost 100m if he played the way Belotti is playing. I know it is just hope that Belotti may come great, but he is just another Ciro Immobile, an average striker to be and his price tag is nowhere close 100m. If Juve were to buy him, I wouldn't pay more than 20m. Belotti, Zaza, Immobile all in the same level, but sometimes one has a better form than the other. If Belotti was to go to United, he would end up exactly like Darmian. Ridiculous. Price of Belotti = Higuain is just insane.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/723/serie-a/2016/11/25/29744902/the-new-christian-vieri-italy-sensation-belotti-is-now-the

It is a shame that Belotti is being compared to Bobo Vieri. Italy need real strikers, not an overrated Belotti. I'm not saying that Belotti is not doing well, but the media hype on him is just way too much, like Immobile 3 years ago.

Devi, in reality Serie A is actually weak. There is no competition for Juve. Look at Roma bro. They win one game and then the second, third... Then they play against Empoli (who we thrashed 3-0)  and get a 0-0 draw. Where is the logic in that when the 2nd place team cannot win against a struggling team this season? (currently 17th with 7 points). Serie A will be back when Inter and Milan are back and better than Roma, who can't even pass to the CL group stages.

I got some time, I wanted to respond to this.

A lot to argue here.

You are comparing players that have talent levels that are far too different. Zaza is nowhere near as talented as Immobile. Not even close. I like having Zaza because of his effort and charm, but its a different league. Immobile had 1 year of being subpar, thats all. He is not Higuain either, but just watching one game of both should tell you that Zaza can never dribble and pass like Immobile. He became cappocanoniere at 24, you can bet your house that Zaza will never be.

Then Belotti, how is the comparison to Vieri not adequate? Belotti from 21yo has been doing great things. Things Vieri wasn't doing. They even play similarly. Will he become as good as Vieri? can't say, he is 22.

There is this pessimism about Serie A because of the decline it experienced, and about Italian youngsters because of this last disappointing generation. Well its past now. We are allowed to rate players again. The difference between this young generation of Italian players and the last is clear as day.

Belotti won't be considered great by me unless he goes somewhere and keeps scoring like he is doing in Torino. Immobile dissapponted, now it is Belotti's turn. Immobile proved to us that he is really nothing wow as we expected. Even in the nationak team, you think Belotti is doing well? He only scored against the average teams in Europe, with all due respect. We can't prove any striker in Serie A is really great unless he does the same with the big guns.

Look at Giovinco, Zaza, Amauri... What have they done in Juve? Did they play 30+ games a season and score 15+ goals?

Now look at Klose, proven, and carrying Lazio and scoring at least 15-20 goals per season. A player is not proven class until he explodes in the superior leagues.

Of course he is doing well in the NT. Belotti has started 3 official games for the NT and scored 3 goals. You can't ask more from a player than what he is doing.

is it his fault that his opposition is better or worse? He has scored against who he has played. Can't ask anything else.

3/3 for the NT. 15/14 goals+assist for Torino this season.

Get real. If a player like that can't be rated then who can?

With Belotti you should pay special attention. If you ever feel like watching Torino, like when we play them in 2 weeks I think.

I never (and don't) rated Pavoletti even when he was scoring because his play didn't show anything special. Neither does Zaza's play besides the constant running and aggression.

But Belotti looks very different. Look at his movements. His off the ball movement is excellent, also the way he uses his body to always create space for himself without having to do an extra dribble. Thats a characteristic of Aguero for example.

I'm enjoying the player a lot. Been watching a lot of Torino this season.

@rincon

i believe that serie a criticizm and negative statements are reasonable as we have the best players leaving for other leagues and we have bad players comming from other leagues ,

now i am not refering to transfers like Pogba, Ibra, Sheva, Kaka, because i believe those were all good deals, and it is difficult to reject +60 million offers that is special case which needs lots of calculations

but having 20million worth players like Zaza leaving Serie A explains how bad serie a is, someone should have take him and i am sure Zaza would be much comfortable in Italy instead of moving to all different place

salmano9 wrote:

rincon wrote:

salmano9 wrote:I am not worried about the results. The results are good, not great (like against Milan teams). It is the performance as you say Rincon.

@Deviangel: The fact that Torino and Atalanta players are being chosen for the NT is just an indication that the big teams aren't capable of providing many great young players thus chosing Belotti, Zappacosta, Baselli etc... Juve have the best Italian players, but all of them are above 29+ now (B-BBC-M). I won't consider Sturaro because he needs LOTS of improvement.

C'mon who is Belotti!? As Mihajlovic was saying, back in the day, he would cost 100m if he played the way Belotti is playing. I know it is just hope that Belotti may come great, but he is just another Ciro Immobile, an average striker to be and his price tag is nowhere close 100m. If Juve were to buy him, I wouldn't pay more than 20m. Belotti, Zaza, Immobile all in the same level, but sometimes one has a better form than the other. If Belotti was to go to United, he would end up exactly like Darmian. Ridiculous. Price of Belotti = Higuain is just insane.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/723/serie-a/2016/11/25/29744902/the-new-christian-vieri-italy-sensation-belotti-is-now-the

It is a shame that Belotti is being compared to Bobo Vieri. Italy need real strikers, not an overrated Belotti. I'm not saying that Belotti is not doing well, but the media hype on him is just way too much, like Immobile 3 years ago.

Devi, in reality Serie A is actually weak. There is no competition for Juve. Look at Roma bro. They win one game and then the second, third... Then they play against Empoli (who we thrashed 3-0)  and get a 0-0 draw. Where is the logic in that when the 2nd place team cannot win against a struggling team this season? (currently 17th with 7 points). Serie A will be back when Inter and Milan are back and better than Roma, who can't even pass to the CL group stages.

I got some time, I wanted to respond to this.

A lot to argue here.

You are comparing players that have talent levels that are far too different. Zaza is nowhere near as talented as Immobile. Not even close. I like having Zaza because of his effort and charm, but its a different league. Immobile had 1 year of being subpar, thats all. He is not Higuain either, but just watching one game of both should tell you that Zaza can never dribble and pass like Immobile. He became cappocanoniere at 24, you can bet your house that Zaza will never be.

Then Belotti, how is the comparison to Vieri not adequate? Belotti from 21yo has been doing great things. Things Vieri wasn't doing. They even play similarly. Will he become as good as Vieri? can't say, he is 22.

There is this pessimism about Serie A because of the decline it experienced, and about Italian youngsters because of this last disappointing generation. Well its past now. We are allowed to rate players again. The difference between this young generation of Italian players and the last is clear as day.

Belotti won't be considered great by me unless he goes somewhere and keeps scoring like he is doing in Torino. Immobile dissapponted, now it is Belotti's turn. Immobile proved to us that he is really nothing wow as we expected. Even in the nationak team, you think Belotti is doing well? He only scored against the average teams in Europe, with all due respect. We can't prove any striker in Serie A is really great unless he does the same with the big guns.

Look at Giovinco, Zaza, Amauri... What have they done in Juve? Did they play 30+ games a season and score 15+ goals?

Now look at Klose, proven, and carrying Lazio and scoring at least 15-20 goals per season. A player is not proven class until he explodes in the superior leagues.

What about aubameyang? HE was shit in Serie A and exploded in Dortmund. As much as I hate Immobile I think he is a better player then Zaza and Amauri. He was in the wrong team in the wrong time he needs teams like his Torino, tight space, counter attacks.

Giovinco would be great in Spain and any other club in Italy except Juve. You can't judge like that. Belotti is beast so far. Ljaic is a great player but he has some problem in his head. Baselli is also awesome. You are underrating this new generation. IMO Bernandeschi would play almost in all top clubs in Europe.

Yep, its an exciting generation. Benardeschi is a pleasure to watch. I'd rate him as one of the biggest italian talent around

Donnarumma
Berardi
Verratti
Bernardeschi
Rugani
Romangoli
Belotti
Gagliardini
Pellegrini
El Shaarawy
Zappacosta
De Sciglio
etc.

hard to find a more talented group of players

From football-italia

Max Allegri said Paulo Dybala “will certainly play in the second half” for Juventus against Dinamo Zagreb and announced more changes.

The final Champions League group game kicks off on Wednesday at 19.45 GMT.

“Dybala will certainly play some of the second half. I have let him return gradually from his injury, but Mandzukic and Higuain will start,” said the Coach in his Press conference.

“Everyone is fine. If I decide to play four at the back, then Stefano Sturaro will be the full-back, otherwise it’ll be three. It’s unlikely Giorgio Chiellini will play. He was out for a long time, so it’s only right to let him recover at his own pace.

“Alex Sandro and Sami Khedira will rest, so Patrice Evra and Mario Lemina will start. Marko Pjaca is recovering, but we won’t see him again in 2016.”

Allegri was asked whether it was perhaps better for Juve to finish second in the group behind Sevilla, considering the difficulties experienced by some of the other big clubs, who’ll end up in the second pot of the draw.

“It makes me laugh because for months we got criticised for not starting the group well, because it was so important to finish top of the group and get advantages, now you’re asking us if we’d be better off finishing second. You’re ridiculous!

“The important thing tomorrow is to start aggressive and get the game on track quickly, because it’s not easy when the opposition puts 10 men behind the ball.”

Lol sturaro the new Kevin Constant or something lol?

What is Rugani up to these days lol ?