Juventus manager Max Allegri has confirmed that defender Giorgio Chiellini was suffering from muscular fatigue during the tail-end of the club’s goalless draw versus SPAL on Saturday. As a result, the 33-year-old has been deemed doubtful for Italy’s upcoming international friendlies against Argentina and England this month.
Speaking after the SPAL, Allegri confirmed the injury which saw Chiellini substituted nine minutes from time, he said: “Chiellini has muscular fatigue, but at the moment we don't have any more on that. It's only human that when you are top of the Serie A table, in the Champions League quarterfinals and the Coppa Italia final, you can miss a beat and lack energy once in a while."
Meanwhile, the stalemate against SPAL saw Juventus lose their four-point advantage over Napoli, but Allegri has stressed that this was bound to happen at sometime, given their congested schedule, he added: “People expected us to drop points a couple of weeks ago against Lazio. We dropped them tonight. These things happen. Now we need some rest, because we are playing on three fronts and we need everyone."
Napoli have not had the best of times of late, but they managed to scrape through a 1-0 win over Genoa on Sunday after a headed winner from Raul Albiol. The victory now sees them just two points behind the Serie A holders, and the title race is likely to go to the very end with both sides having important fixture between now and the end of the season.
Alongside Napoli and Juventus, AC Milan have been one of the most in-form sides in the division, and the pair can expect a difficult challenge against the Rossoneri, who have made a revival under Gennaro Gattuso. The Italians are unbeaten in the Serie A since 2018 with their previous defeat coming prior to Christmas against Atalanta BC.