Juventus vs Cagliari preview - Pogba returns with eye on Madrid
Posted Friday, May 08, 2015 by PA
Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba will return to play in Saturday's home game against Cagliari after missing almost two months of action with a hamstring injury.
Pogba has not featured since getting hurt on March 18 but Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri is hoping to have the Frenchman in top condition for next week's Champions League semi-final showdown with Real Madrid.
"Pogba trained well on Thursday and the results are good," Allegri said to the Italian media. "He could start in Saturday's game.
"It's important to give him minutes in order to have him ready for Wednesday's match in Madrid."
Juve beat holders Real 2-1 in Tuesday's first leg in Turin, just four days after beating Sampdoria 1-0 to clinch their fourth straight Serie A title and their first under Allegri.
"We've had two beautiful nights in front of our home fans," Allegri said.
"The win at Real allowed us to celebrate the Scudetto but now we want to reach the final and we are 90 minutes away from doing so.
"We know we will have to play an even better game in Madrid."
Allegri, whose side have not reached a European final since the 2002-03 campaign, will rest his top players aside from Pogba in view of next week's crunch game at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
"I will make changes to the line-up because we've had two very challenging weeks," Allegri said. "But I have a good roster and we will go out for victory on Saturday."
Juve are unbeaten at home this season in Serie A while Cagliari are battling to stay in Italy's top flight.
The Sardinian outfit are 18th in the standings, six points adrift of Atalanta, who hold the last position of safety with four games remaining.
Sunday's 4-0 triumph over bottom side Parma was Cagliari's third win in their last four games.
"We are just taking it one game at a time and trying to give our all in every match," coach Gianluca Festa said.
"Our current position forces us to take maximum points from our remaining games regardless of the value of our rivals. We will try against Juve."
The visitors will be without midfielder Daniele Dessena and striker Paul-Jose M'Poku, who are both suspended.
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