(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Juventus face an important test in the battle for top spot in Champions League Group H against Chelsea, Massimiliano Allegri said yesterday but the head coach admitted his side are still struggling for goals since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Italians head to London having already qualified for the last-16 with a perfect record after four games, sitting three points ahead of the English Premier League side.
But Chelsea, who suffered a 1-0 defeat to Juve in Turin in September, are aiming to knock Allegri's side off top spot.“Tomorrow we face off for first place against a team that's on top of the Premier League and won the Champions League last season,” Allegri told a news conference.“With Lukaku they play in a different way. Without him they have fewer reference points and more counter-attacking players. It'll be an important test for us.”
Juve have struggled domestically this season, winning six of their 13 matches, including a 2-0 victory over Lazio in Rome on Saturday, to sit eighth in Serie A. Their top scorer this season is Paulo Dybala, with six goals across all competitions, but Allegri said that the Argentina international's involvement is doubtful as he continues his recovery from injury. The coach demanded more from his team in attack as they continue to struggle for goals since last season's Serie A top-scorer Ronaldo left for Manchester United in the off-season.“We must improve our finishing. We're creating good chances and making mistakes with the final ball,” Allegri said.“In Rome we ran risks by not finishing our chances and then allowing counter-attacks. We've scored 18 goals and conceded 15 (in Serie A), we need to find more goals as a team.”
He added:“Everywhere Cristiano has gone, he's always been the top scorer. We have a lot of players who can score goals, but at the moment we aren't finding them.”
Chelsea's Lukaku still a doubt against Juventus, Jorginho fit
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel will take a late call on including striker Romelu Lukaku for their Champions League group game with Juventus, but said yesterday that midfielder Jorginho was fit after coming off against Leicester City at the weekend. Lukaku has not featured since injuring his ankle in their 4-0 win against Malmo last month, but was expected to return to action against the Italians today.“Not sure yet (about Lukaku). He seemed okay in training yesterday, we'll see about the reaction. He has an appointment with the doctors and physios... the last minutes would be the absolute maximum,” Tuchel told reporters.“Jorginho is absolutely okay. Kai (Havertz) had a hamstring problem so we took him off and we have some doubts. This is more or less the question mark.”
The London side need to avoid defeat at Stamford Bridge to confirm their place in the round of 16.“We'll not risk our qualification and go all in if the situation (with Lukaku's injury) is like this, but we'll try everything to win the group and to do this, we have to win the game,” said Tuchel.
The German, however, said he had enough options to make up for the absence of the Belgium international, especially with forward Timo Werner back in the squad after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
FIXTURES
Group E: Dynamo Kyiv vs Bayern Munich; Barcelona vs Benfica
Group F: Villarreal vs Manchester United; Young Boys vs Atalanta
Group G: Lille vs FC Red Bull Salzburg; Sevilla vs VfL
Wolfsburg
Group H: Chelsea vs Juventus; Malmo FF vs Zenit St Petersburg
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