ITALIAN SERIE A
Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report
As Juventus visitEstadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples this evening in a top-of-the-table Italian Serie A clash, Manager of the Turin team, Massimiliano Allegri, has warned his wards to give special attention to Nigerian international, Victor Osimhen.
The Super Eagles forward is the top scorer in the Italian topflight on 10 goals closely followed by Bologna’s Marko Arnautovic, M’Bala Nzola of Spezia and Lautaro Martinez of Inter all tied on eight goals.
“We need to put in a technical performance, we play against the best team with the leading scorer (Osimhen) in the league, Its the table saying so. It will be a nice game, we must have enthusiasm,” began the Juventus Boss.
He stressed that the Juventus need to fix two or three things ahead of the game tonight.
“We still haven’t prepared anything, we must fix two or three things. It will be a nice game Friday, a nice night of football in a sold-out stadium but it won’t be decisive for the season. It’s more important for them (Napoli) than for us,” Allegri told football Italia ahead of the important match.
Napoli are the favourite to win the title, they have 44 points and only lost a game first time this season at Inter. “They are technically strong and coached very well. Luciano (Spalletti) is the best when it comes to coaching and teaching and he is proving so at Napoli.
“I respect Spalletti so much, he is so funny that sometimes we clash as we did last season. I am also a coach, but I do this job by chance, I should have something else. Luciano is so, so good, he’s the best when it comes to teaching football,” Allegri stressed with emphasis.
The game will be Juve’s last with Andrea Agnelli as chairman. The club is under scrutiny from prosecutors and the country’s market watchdog for alleged false accounting, leading the club’s board to resign last month.
Juve have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and said they would defend their interests with all sporting and legal bodies.
The new board of directors and Chairman Gianluca Ferrero will take over next Wednesday. “There isn’t much to say about Agnelli. The results he has achieved in the last 12 years speak for themselves,” said Allegri. “I am grateful to him for allowing me to coach Juventus, stay close to me and work together for many years.”
Napoli Manager, Luciano Spalletti, on the other hand will be in more buoyant mood after the Naples-based club bounced back from their first league defeat of the season at Inter Milan by winning at Sampdoria on Sunday.
“It’s a very important game (Juve) but not a decisive one,” he said. “We haven’t even finished the first half of the season yet. We’re up against a big rival and we’ll see how it goes.”
Fourth-placed Inter host lowly Hellas Verona on Saturday, giving Romelu Lukaku, who has struggled for form since returning on loan from Chelsea, a chance to turn things around.
Defending champions AC Milan, who are third, cannot afford to slip up when they travel to mid-table Lecce on Saturday.
Stefano Pioli’s side have several key players out injured and suffered a home exit in the Coppa Italia on Wednesday with a 1-0 loss against 10-man Torino in the last 16. Ante Rebic, Divock Origi, Simon Kjaer and goalkeeper Mike Maignan are all sidelined.
Maurizio Sarri’s fifth-placed Lazio visit Sassuolo on Sunday hoping to end a streak of three Serie A games without a win, while Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma, who are seventh, host Fiorentina.
