Juve hope to recover Pogba for Derby d’Italia, Morata ’50-50’
According to today’s Gazzetta Dello Sport, Paul Pogba’s ankle sprain shouldn’t be enough to keep him out from Sunday’s key clash, whilst Claudio Marchisio’s recovery allows Allegri to count on every big chess piece in the middle.
The Old Lady’s problems are in attack, where Mario Mandzukic, Alvaro Morata and Roberto Pereyra are major doubts. With Pablo Dybala on international duty with Argentina, it’s fair to say that bianconeri will be throwing in an extra night-time prayer or two to ensure that the former Palermo star doesn’t pick up any knocks in the Albiceleste’s away trip to Paraguay. Either way, Dybala will only be back in Turin for Thursday, leaving him only three days to prepare the Derby.
Mandzukic remains Juventus’ main concern up front: he seemed fine when he was called up by Croatia, despite skipping the Bologna game to fully recover from his thigh injury. The former Bayern and Atletico hitman was, however, forced to waive the white flag once he joined his countrymen however, never even making it out of training. Croatia’s medical staff have reported that he needs two more weeks to make a full recovery. Ouch.
Pereyra is also on international duty with Argentina with heavy bruising to his calf, but has been made available for match selection by the Seleccion’s staff.
Whilst the non-international were given a days’ rest yesterday, Pogba and Morata were already at work on Sunday. According to Tuttosport, the ever-optimistic Allegri is willing to wait until mid-week before opting for an eventual Plan B. He could opt for Mario Lemina or Stefano Sturaro to replace Pogba, and Simone Zaza in case Morata can’t make it.
