Juventus face Siena without Giorgio Chiellini, Gigi Buffon or Mauro Camoranesi, so Claudio Ranieri demands extra effort from everybody.
The injury crisis had looked as if it was abating over the Christmas break, but Chiellini has not recovered from a muscular problem and Vincenzo Iaquinta is also ruled out, but at least Olof Mellberg is fit.
“After we took so long to get them back, I couldn’t risk them,” explained Ranieri. “Buffon will be ready for the Coppa Italia and it was always planned that way.
“Iaquinta has been unlucky, but he is relaxed, even if he gets annoyed when these setbacks occur. Cristiano Zanetti has already played a little and Christian Poulsen is returning, but what I care about is the squad and not individuals.
“I will not request any new signings in January because we are getting quite a few players back from injury now.”
The match with Siena is a potentially tough one and Juve need to be alert if they are to close the six-point gap from leaders Inter.
“The team was doing very well before the Christmas break, so we need to resume where we left off. Now there are five important months ahead of us and tomorrow we must push to the max. All we have to do is brush the dust off our brains.
“Inter keep gathering points and they could afford to slow down, but we can’t. In any case, I want Juve to go their own way and then if we manage to catch Inter that’s even better.”
It was almost very different, as in the last game of 2008 the Nerazzurri snatched a controversial last-gasp 2-1 victory over Siena – who will try again with Juve on Sunday.
“Siena did not deserve to lose against Inter. They are solid, don’t let you pass the ball around and have great counter-attacks with very aggressive full-backs. Marco Giampaolo’s side already caused us a lot of problems last season.”
Juventus squad: Mellberg, Zanetti, Amauri, Del Piero, Nedved, Chimenti, Manninger, Poulsen, Marchisio, Giovinco, Grygera, Sissoko, Molinaro, De Ceglie, Marchionni, Legrottaglie, Ariaudo
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