Juventus: Massimiliano Allegri provides positive injury update

Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri confirmed in his pre-match press conference ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Florence that he should have several injured players back for Sunday’s Serie A clash against Spezia.

Allegri will once again be without a whole host of first-teamers for the upcoming Coppa Italia semi-final first leg against Fiorentina with Denis Zakaria being added to the injury list over the weekend.

As a result of Juve’s injury woes, the boss hinted that one of Matias Soule, Marley Ake or Fabio Miretti could start at the Artemio Franchi. The young trio has combined for five substitute appearances this season.

Massimiliano Allegri provides a positive injury update in pre-match presser

While Juve will be without nine senior players for the upcoming trip to Florence, Allegri is hopeful that he’ll be able to call upon the likes of Paulo Dybala, Federico Bernardeschi and Daniele Rugani for Juve’s next Serie A fixture this weekend.

“The injuries do not worry me, many are traumatic as we have played many games. Dybala and Bernardeschi will be available from Thursday,” Allegri said before adding that Rugani is “doing well”.

The Juventus boss was also optimistic over the thigh injury picked up by Zakaria in Saturday’s victory over Empoli. The Swiss midfielder underwent tests at J-Medical on Monday and initial reports speculated that he could be sidelined until the March international break. Allegri, however, said he was hopeful that he’ll have Zakaria available for the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Villarreal on 16 March.

For the time being, though, he’ll have to lean on Manuel Locatelli, Adrien Rabiot, Arthur Melo and potentially Miretti in midfield. Thus, a reversion to the 4-4-2 is inevitable.

While Allegri was mostly positive on the injury front during Tuesday’s presser, he did add that Alex Sandro and Giorgio Chiellini both remain out. There were reports that Chiellini could be available for the Spezia game, but it doesn’t appear that’ll be the case. The veteran has missed much of February with another calf injury.