Antonio Conte has called on the Bianconeri to display plenty of hunger and passion when Pescara travel to Juventus Stadium on Saturday evening.
Speaking in Vinovo, Conte said: "I want to see my players foaming at the mouth. Tomorrow's three points are fundamental to take us closer to a realistic target. That's what the championship is for us, other thoughts are hypothetical, they're dreams and dreams rarely come true".
"Beating Pescara tomorrow would see us take a step closer to the Scudetto, so it's not an important game as far as we're concerned, it's fundamental".
Urging the Bianconeri to be on their guard, the 43-year-old continued: "Pescara are still fighting to stay up, they've worked well during the week and have a young and well-prepared coach who preaches an offensive mentality".
"We'll be aware of any potential banana skins. As a player I won titles that appeared to be beyond us and lost those that seemed already in the bag. It would be magnificent to reclaim our Scudetto, so we'll stay focused".
"In just a few months Juventus have won a Scudetto, an Italian Super Cup, are top of the league, playing Champions League quarter-finals and have reached the Coppa Italia semi-final. Heynckes called it the ‘rising of the phoenix'. That's the reality and the fans mustn't lose sight of that".
"If people think that last year's miracle - because winning the Scudetto was a miracle - can be repeated on other pitches, if they think that every journey can be made without hitches or stumbles, then they're light years away from reality. Win is an easy verb to pronounce, but difficult to carry out. We'll remain humble, because we still haven't got our hands on this title".
Conte concluded his meeting with the media by clearing up several queries concerning his players' fitness as the Bianconeri continue to work their way through a grueling fixture schedule.
He admitted that Marco Storari, Luca Marrone and Kwadwo Asamoah would all be named in his starting line-up - and insisted there is absolutely no substance to speculation of Claudio Marchisio suffering from tonsillitis.
"Buffon suffered flu-like symptoms after the game against Inter which took it out of him and the problem's come back after the Bayern clash. He hasn't been able to train well, so Storari will start in goal. If I didn't have a backup keeper like him, I would ask Gigi to play, but Marco is a reliable performer".
"Marrone and Asamoah will also play. Asa's been through a period in which he's felt fatigue after the African Cup of Nations and I was warned that he would return with less energy. If I could go back I would have granted him ten days' rest, but I've got great confidence in him, both personally and professionally".
"Marchisio's tonsillitis? Usually the doctors keep me updated on everything and nobody's said a word to me. If something like that happened I would get angry with the medical staff, but since that would never occur, I truly believe it's been made up. Marchisio's fine, he's alive and kicking".
No comments:
Post a Comment