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Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci acknowledges teammate goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny before the Italian Serie A football match against Atalanta at the Azzuri d’Italia stadium in Bergamo, February 13, 2022. — AFP pic
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TURIN, Feb 17 — Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said that Leonardo Bonucci could miss tomorrow’s derby clash with Torino through injury, having just returned to action, and it remains uncertain whether the defender will be fit for next week’s Champions League.
The Italy centre back played his first games of 2022 last week following a spell on the sidelines with a muscle injury, but his manager had further bad news over Bonucci’s fitness.
“Tomorrow’s game is really complicated,” Allegri told a news conference today. “I am sure we won’t have Leonardo Bonucci. He has calf fatigue and we’ll see if he can recover for Tuesday (against Villarreal in the Champions League last 16).
“He played in Bergamo (against Atalanta on Sunday) and he was already fatigued in the first half.
“I don’t know if Dusan Vlahovic, Alvaro Morata and Paulo Dybala will play. Federico Bernardeschi is still not ready because of an adductor problem, so we can’t take any risk. Federico Chiesa is out, Giorgio Chiellini is out, Danilo is suspended.”
Allegri’s side needed a stoppage-time intervention from Danilo to salvage a point at the home of fellow Champions League chasers Atalanta last weekend, but the draw stretched Juve’s unbeaten run in Serie A to 11 games.
Title talk may be premature, given fourth-placed Juve trail leaders AC Milan by nine points still, but they will be keen to keep the pressure on with victory over city rivals Torino, who they have not been beaten by in 15 matches in all competitions.
“The derby is always a special game, we play against a Torino side that has real soul,” he added. “Ivan Juric (Torino’s coach) has brought their DNA back to the club.
“Ivan did well at (Hellas) Verona and is doing well at Torino. Torino, Verona and Atalanta are physical teams that play with great intensity.
“We’ll play at home, I know the stadium will be sold out, although the capacity is reduced to 50 per cent. It will be a complicated game, the third against physical teams that play in the same way. I hope we learned something in the first two.”
Torino sit 10th in the standings on 32 points from 24 matches played. — Reuters