Juventus Turin coach Massimiliano Allegri has decided to include Paul Pogba, who was injured for a long time last season, in the group that travels to Udine on Sunday for the Serie A kick-off.
Overwhelmed by knee and thigh injuries, Pogba, 30, only played ten games last season, the one that was to mark his big return to Juve, already his club from 2012 to 2016, after six years up and down at Manchester United (2016-22).
At Saturday’s pre-match press conference at midday, Allegri left the afternoon to decide whether or not to include the 2018 world champion in his squad.
“I am happy with the work done by Paul, he played 40 minutes (in a friendly match this week, editor’s note), but you have to remember that he is coming out of almost a year and a half of inactivity”, he said. he explains. “Having him available for all matches will be important, even if it’s twenty minutes at the start,” Allegri continued.
The Italian technician has also set his team as a “minimum objective” of “finishing in the top 4 to be able to compete in the Champions League next season”. “There is bitterness, anger even not to be in C1 this season when we had won our qualification on the ground”, assured Allegri.
Juve was penalized with ten penalty points in the standings last season for accounting fraud on capital gains deemed artificial during the sale of players. UEFA also penalized her for non-compliance with financial fair play rules by depriving her of the Europa League Conference play-offs to which her 7th place finish entitled her.