Napoli hamstrung, will miss 6 against Juventus
On Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Juventus Stadium in Turin, Luciano Spalletti’s team will host Antonio Conte’s Napoli in the match valid for the 22nd day of the championship. The hosts want to get closer to the top positions in the standings, the Italian champions aim to get as close as possible to Massimiliano Allegri’s AC Milan, which will face Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma on Sunday evening. For the challenge against Juventus, Antonio Conte will have to deal with a lot of absences.
Kevin De Bruyne, following the surgery he underwent for the injury sustained during the execution of the penalty kick in the match against Inter, has an expected prognosis for the end of February, and should be reintegrated into the team in early March barring complications. Also missing from the midfield will be Billy Gilmour, who has had groin discomfort and will not be seen on the field until mid-February. Conte will also have to do without André-Frank Anguissa, who is suffering from a fairly severe bout of low back pain. He will definitely miss Juventus, possible to recover for Chelsea.
In defense, Amir Rrahmani, who suffered a gluteal strain in recent days, a fortunately minor injury that should allow him to return in early February, will not be in the game. Matteo Politano had a distractive injury to the semimembranosus: being a flexor it will require a little’ more time, he is expected to be reintegrated into the team in the second half of February. David Neres suffered a sprained ankle injury by leaning his foot wrongly in twisting in the game against Lazio. He tried to recover but, by forcing it, the situation worsened and now has to decide whether to opt for conservative therapy (a month and a half stop with the unknown of a full recovery) or for surgery. Should he end up in surgery, the Brazilian is expected to be out for about three months.
Napoli and Juventus have decided to cancel the press conferences of Antonio Conte and Luciano Spalletti, turning the approach to the big match into a silence that, paradoxically, makes a lot of noise. The partenopei’s helmsman had already avoided the press room in weeks with European commitments, Spalletti decided not to appear in front of reporters, canceling the 4 p.m. appointment on Saturday at Continassa.
Juventus’ decision thus seems to be linked to Napoli’s choice not to send its coach in front of the microphones: a game of mirrors that adds tension to a challenge already dense with meaning, with the two coaches well aware of the weight of this match. In the first leg, Napoli had won 2-1 thanks to Rasmus Hojlund’s brace. For the Bianconeri, Kenan Yildiz had scored.
