Gasperini: Chose Roma for the challenge, Dybala assessed today | OneFootball

Juventus-Roma will be a crucial crossroads for the season of both teams. The home side will need to build on the three points earned in Bologna to continue their European pursuit, while the Giallorossi (taking advantage of the Supercoppa) will try to catch up with Inter at the top of the standings.

Roma, Gasperini: “I chose Roma because the challenge was tougher. Dybala? We’ll assess him today. On Dovbyk…”

This summer, Gasperini was among the hot names to replace Tudor on the Juventus bench, but in the end, the former Atalanta coach chose Roma: “Here, the challenge was more difficult. I’m happy with what has started. Juventus remains a great team, certainly strong, and always has the chance to keep strengthening,” he said in a press conference.

“We come into this match after a good performance against Como and in Glasgow, and we want to test ourselves against Juve; the league is in its most exciting phase,” the coach added.

On the injury front, Gasperini gave an update on the conditions of Dybala and Dovbyk: “For Paulo, we’ll see if he’ll be able to play from the start or just for a portion; we need to assess him today. I believe the motivation is always very high; I don’t think a player at his level lacks motivation. Artem, on the other hand, hasn’t fully recovered yet. Even though he’s been training for several days, he still has some difficulty kicking.” There’s also a minor warning for Hermoso: “He has a few problems; we hope to resolve them.”

Roma comes into the match with a +4 in the standings: “We’ve done well, I don’t know if we’re the strongest team, but the boys have been excellent in almost every match, even those we didn’t manage to win. It’s a group that has grown technically and in quality, and lately, they’ve always managed to score.” Read also

The Giallorossi are also very active on the transfer market front, especially in attack, where the names Zirkzee and Raspadori have been mentioned. Gasperini, however, prefers to focus elsewhere: “Our concentration and attention are on December 19th. For everything else, I think there’s time, and now is not the moment.”

Another major former figure in this clash will be Luciano Spalletti, since October the coach of Juventus: “We’re on friendly terms; when he was the national team coach, we often spoke because he would call up Atalanta players and come to Zingonia to watch training. Now that he’s with Juve, we don’t talk much, but we’ll definitely greet each other cordially. The atmosphere between us is calm.”

Gasperini then added: “It’s not easy to take over; I think he’s trying to bring his own ideas, perhaps starting from a situation that’s already been established for some time. But it seems to me that Juventus too, lately, between the Bologna match and the one in the Champions League, has certainly improved and grown.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.