Juve squad missing big stars for Napoli clash
Massimiliano Allegri revealed Juventus will be without its South American contingent, including Paulo Dybala, and the injured Federico Chiesa as it prepares to face Napoli on Sunday (AEST).
Dybala, who has been involved in four goals in his past four league games, heads the absentee list, which also includes Rodrigo Bentancur, Danilo, Juan Cuadrado and Alex Sandro.
Juve has managed just one point from its opening two Serie A games, only once in its history — Allegri's first spell in 2015-2016 — has it failed to win any of its opening three matches.
Matters have worsened for the Old Lady as Allegri confirmed on Saturday (AEST) that the visitors will be without their South American players after their late returns from international duty.
"I decided to leave the South Americans at home because they will return too late," Allegri said.
"[Juan] Cuadrado was the only one who could have joined the team, but he suffered stomach flu. He hasn't even returned to Italy. He is in still Colombia to undergo some medical examinations.
"This is the situation, I've never complained about the fixture list. Some players finished their international games at 3am last night and would return to Turin at 11am [CET] tomorrow morning.
"We don't want to run the risk they pick up injuries, so they will remain in Turin to work, it makes more sense."
Allegri confirmed Chiesa, too, will not be available for selection after the forward suffered a muscular issue with Italy during the international break.
The 54-year-old is without a win in his past seven league games, with only three Juve managers ever suffering longer winless streaks in Serie A, but asked for patience as his team looks to kick-start its season after two poor showings against Udinese and Empoli.
"Napoli is among the candidates to win the title along with another seven or eight clubs, the season is still long and we need to remain balanced," he continued.
"There are many games, the first two matches didn't go as we expected, but this is football, we must keep things simple and start the season because we haven't started yet."
