Juventus vs. Inter with a short blanket: Igor Tudor’s absentees
Juventus with a short blanket against Inter, in the first major clash of the season between the two historic rivals who have so many times competed for the Scudetto in Serie A history. The derby d’Italia will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Allianz Stadium, with kickoff at 6 p.m. But Igor Tudor, among the lineup choices he will have to make, already knows he will have to renounce some of the pawns at his disposal.
One of them answers to the name of Francisco Conceição, who is back from training with Portugal and returned from Hungary facing a muscle strain. Precisely for this reason, the Lusitanian only did personalized work on Friday and is likely to miss his Juventus match against Inter. “We will see, at the moment the chance that he will recover is only 50 percent” Tudor confirmed in a press conference.
Who admitted firsthand that he could not be there is, on the other hand, one of Juventus’ summer signings. He is Edon Zhegrova, who already said on Thursday: “I still have to work, and therefore against Inter’I will not play. I am aware of how important the match is, so I will support my teammates. Soon, however, I will be ready, and at that point I will make myself available to the group”.
More complicating the Croatian coach’s choices is also the absence of Andrea Cambiaso, who was stopped by the sports judge for disqualification. The HCL coach will therefore have to find alternatives in both attack and defense, with several options under consideration. Possible replacements for the disqualified full-back include newcomer Joao Mario and the confirmed Filip Kostic, while in attack it could be an opportunity to see Lois Openda or Teun Koopmeiners at work from the start should Conceição fail to make it.
The Juventus coach will have to find alternatives in both the attack and the defense.
The Juventus coach has shown great respect for tomorrow’s opponent, describing Inter as the team “with the strongest squad of all” in the last 4-5 years, and pointing out that the Nerazzurri have “experienced players who have been playing together for so long”. However, Tudor made it clear that this is not a maturity exam for his team: “No, no exam, we are making a path. We are only on the third one, then there are 35 more to go”.
The HCL coach also took stock of the condition of some of his key men. On Vlahovic he expressed great satisfaction: “If he sees the numbers I would say he has never been like this in his life. Better than this he cannot be” referring to the performance of the Serbian who found the net in both of the first two days of the championship. Regarding Koopmeiners, however, Tudor cut short the constant questions: “I don“t understand the fixation on this guy. Always so many questions about him. He is a guy who cares, he has quality, he will do well”.
On the other hand, Inter come to this fixture with some more uncertainty after the home defeat against Udinese before the break. Christian Chivu, who will experience his first Derby d’Italia as a coach after playing it several times as a player in a Nerazzurri jersey, has predicated calm: “We are aware of what the course of the season may be, regardless of this match. Whatever the score, we know that in a year there can be ups and downs, we must not let it affect us”.
