Szczesny's cunning Champions plan

By Football Italia staff

Wojciech Szczesny describes Maurizio Sarri methods and jokes Juventus can win the Champions League "now Matthijs de Ligt and Cristiano Ronaldo can’t knock us out.”

There is immediately a Scudetto showdown on Saturday when Napoli visit the Juventus Stadium.

“It’s not a problem going up against Napoli straight away, as we have to face everyone twice anyway,” the goalkeeper told Sky Sport Italia.

“Napoli caused us a lot of problems over the last few years, but we can’t wait to play this game.”

It remains to be seen if Sarri will be on the bench, as the former Napoli boss has been suffering from pneumonia.

“I used to watch his Napoli play great football and now that he’s here, I can say that he makes his players work really hard, especially on tactics.

“Compared to Max Allegri, we work a lot more with the ball and we defend differently, with a higher line to press the opposition. It’s going to be a hard-fought game on Saturday and it’s always difficult in those head-to-head clashes, even if we often end up winning. Here’s hoping that’s what happens again this weekend.

“It will be a tough and very balanced league, as Inter, Napoli, Roma and Lazio have really reinforced.”

Question marks remain over several Juve players who could still be on their way out, or at least were expected to be leaving this summer.

“Gonzalo Higuain is in great shape and you could tell in the pre-season friendlies that he was the old Pipita, really fired up and sharp. I know he’ll score many goals.

“Paulo Dybala is fine, everyone saw the goal he scored against Triestina. Everyone has to fight for their place in the starting XI, that’s just what it’s like at this level.

“It’s wonderful that Gigi Buffon has returned. I had the best goalkeeper in the world, Alisson Becker, as my understudy at Roma and now I have the best goalkeeper of all time backing me up at Juventus. I learned a lot from Gigi and we are friends. He is as enthusiastic as a kid and I’m sure he’ll play a lot this season.

Juventus won eight consecutive Serie A titles, but are once again under pressure to end their Champions League drought after exits to Real Madrid and then Ajax.

“Matthijs de Ligt and Cristiano Ronaldo can’t knock us out anymore, so we’ve got a better chance, right?” laughed Szczesny.

“Joking aside, I am not thinking about that. Our minds are purely on Napoli right now.”

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