Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo will play in Juventus’ Serie A fixture against Lazio at Turin tomorrow. Ronaldo was scoreless in his competitive debut for Juventus against Chievo. However, Juventus won the match 3-2. The 33-year old will play his first home game for Juventus against Lazio tomorrow despite concerns on his fitness.
Allegri said, “Cristiano is set to play tomorrow. It’s important to bear in mind, however, that our forwards are the players who’ve had the least amount of pre-season training, so they need to be managed with care. Cristiano is always striving for more. He’s highly competitive in everything he does. He has built his own success over the years through hard work and sacrifice. He’s a role model for many of the other guys and he raises our overall quality.
There will be better link-up play between our midfielders and forwards, which will undoubtedly benefit Cristiano. I believe that Cristiano’s goal at Allianz Stadium in last season’s Champions League has helped to build a strong rapport and significant mutual respect between himself and the fans. I think it had an influence in his choice to join Juventus.”
Allegri however was unsure whether Blaise Matuidi will start the match against Lazio. He said, “Blaise is an important player for us, as he demonstrated last year. He’s in excellent condition, but I still need to decide if he plays. I have plenty of top-class midfielders to choose from. Lazio are a physical and very well-organised team, who love to hit their opponents on the counter-attack. Therefore, we need to stay very focused throughout the match.
There’s excitement in the air. Lazio will make it a great encounter. They defeated us last time at Allianz Stadium to end a 41-game unbeaten run. So, [Saturday] is very important, even if it’s only our second match of the season.”