‘Cristiano Ronaldo Hype Not Good For Juventus’- Manager Allegri

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri is wary of the hype surrounding the club since Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the club.

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, 33, completed a €100 million (£89m/$116m) transfer from Real Madrid to Juventus earlier this month with many excited by his arrival.

The Portuguese star won four Champions League titles at the Liga club and joins the Turin giants hoping to win a European title in a third major league, following previous success at Manchester United and with Real Madrid.

But Allegri refused to be carried away by the signing of Ronaldo and warned it may be even harder for Juventus to defend their league title.

Allegri

“Cristiano has lots of international experience and he will help us a lot, but we have to be careful,” he told reporters.

“There is too much euphoria around us and it’s not good. This year will be more difficult than others.

“Opponents will be more aggressive because we have won many games and now we have an excellent player like him.

“They will accept it and also, they will have more motivation. With Ronaldo, I spoke about how happy and enthusiastic I am about him coming here, there will be time to speak about football.”

Ronaldo will not feature in the International Champions Cup for Juventus, but it is thought he will be available for their Serie A opener against Chievo.

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‘Please Don’t Leave!!!’- Barcelona Beg Lionel Messi As Possible Move To Italy Intensifies

Barcelona spokesman, Josep Vives, has pleaded with Lionel Messi to remain at the club.

According to Vives, he cannot imagine Messi leaving the Camp Nou, after Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid to join Juventus earlier this month.

Ronaldo had a €1billion release clause in his contract, but Madrid allowed him to join Juve for significantly less, once he asked to leave.

Messi signed a new deal with Barca in November, with a release clause worth €700m, that ties him to the club through the 2020/2021 season.

“I cannot imagine that situation in which Messi is not with us,” Vives told reporters on Thursday.

“I am already getting nervous because there have been many days without football [games]. We do not imagine this situation here.”

Earlier this week, Marco Tronchetti Provera, the CEO of Pirelli, one of Inter Milan’s main sponsors, suggested that Inter’s owners would consider a move for Messi in response to Ronaldo’s arrival in Serie A.

But Inter vice president, Javier Zanetti, laughed off that suggestion while speaking to Fox Sports Argentina.

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It’s HAPPENING! Chelsea & Juventus Set To Agree Fee For This Highly Rated Striker (Photo)

Chelsea and Juventus are set to hold talks on Saturday in Nice as the Blues target moves for a number of the Serie A champions’ players.

Goal understands Chelsea CEO Marina Granovskaia will meet with Juve sporting director Fabio Paratici while Maurizio Sarri’s side prepare to face Inter in the International Champions Cup.

Sarri has targeted moves for a number of Juventus players due to his familiarity with Serie A, having already secured the arrival of Jorginho from Napoli.

A second bid of £45 million ($59m) was lodged for centre-back Daniele Rugani earlier in the week, and Chelsea are hopeful that these talks will allow a breakthrough to be made in their pursuit of the Italy international.

The Blues have already seen a £36m ($47m) bid rejected by the Bianconeri for Rugani but he remains Sarri’s primary defensive target with less than two weeks of the transfer window left to run in England.

Should Rugani prove unattainable, Chelsea will turn their attentions to his team-mate Mattia Caldara.

The 24-year-old is yet to make an appearance for Massimiliano Allegri’s side, having signed for Juve in January 2017 before being loaned back to Atalanta for 18 months in a bid to gain further experience.

Caldara has been linked with a move away already this summer, with AC Milan reportedly keen to bring him to San Siro in a deal that would potentially see Leonardo Bonucci move in the opposite direction.

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Zinedine Zidane admits fondness for Juventus

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he would have preferred to avoid Juventus in Friday's Champions League draw because of his attachment to the Italian giant where he spent five happy years.

The match, to be played on 3-11 April, is a replay of last season's Champions League final, which brought Zidane back-to-back European crowns with a 4-1 win in Cardiff.

"I spent five years over there and it was an important club in my career as a player, so obviously it always has an effect on me when we play Juve," said Zidane, who as a Juventus player lost the 1998 Champions League final to Real Madrid.

"I would have preferred to avoid Juventus for many reasons," said the coach who joined Madrid as a player in 2001, scoring a wonder-goal to clinch the Champions League final with a 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

"But we drew Juve and now I have to concentrate on that and forget about everything that happened to me there as a player even if it'll always be there in the back of my mind."

"They look as solid as they were last year," said Zidane of the Juve outfit renowned for rock-solid defending and clinical breakaway finishing.

Zidane was also quizzed about Gareth Bale's state of mind and was asked if the Welsh winger was depressed at Madrid after missing selection for both legs of the last-16 victory over PSG.

"He's a very important part of our squad, he is happy to be with us and he has showed that. You can think whatever you want but he isn't sad," Zidane insisted.

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Tottenham is ready for Juventus - H.M Son

Tottenham Hotspur have nothing to fear ahead of Wednesday's Champions League game against Juventus and possess plenty of firepower to progress to the quarterfinals, midfielder Son Heung-min said.

Tottenham clawed their way back from two goals down to claim a 2-2 draw with the Italian champions in Turin in the first leg of the last-16 tie.

"We play at home but we are not scared," Son said. "We need to play our game, be confident and play forward like we play at Wembley. That's the most important thing.

"We are hungry. We are not finished... it's a Champions League game against a difficult opponent... I hope it's a great atmosphere and I think we have a great opportunity," the South Korean added.

Son scored twice as Spurs outclassed Huddersfield Town 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 17 games.

Tottenham, who are preparing to move to a new stadium next season, have taken time to settle in at their temporary home but are favourites to reach the last eight.

"You can see how well Tottenham play. We deserve to play in the Champions League to the quarter-final or even more. We are good enough," Son said.

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West Ham sign Joao Mario on loan from Inter Milan

West Ham United have signed Portuguese midfielder Joao Mario on loan from Inter Milan until the end of the season, the Premier League club said on Friday.

Mario, 25, arrives at the London Stadium as manager David Moyes was keen to add creative players to his squad after injuries to Manuel Lanzini and Marko Arnautovic.

"I am really happy to be here," Mario told the club website (www.whufc.com).

"It's a really amazing experience to join this amazing team and I am just glad to be here.

"It was a fast move. I have spoken with everyone around the team and, for me, it is exciting to play in the Premier League. I spoke with the coach and for me, I am really happy to be training for an amazing coach."

Mario scored three goals in 47 appearances since joining Inter from Sporting Lisbon in August 2016.

He has 31 international caps and featured in all seven matches as Portugal won Euro 2016.

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Italian's FA fined Lazio over anti-semitic stickers

The Italian FA's federal tribunal has fined Lazio €50,000, saying it was "objectively" responsible for the distribution by fans of anti-semitic stickers showing Holocaust victim Anne Frank wearing the jersey of city rivals AS Roma.

The stickers were found in their stadium, Rome's Olympic Stadium, which they share with AS Roma, during a match against Cagliari in October.

Following the incident, Italian soccer authorities ordered stadiums to hold a minute of silence at their next matches while a passage from Anne Frank's diary is read out.

Investigations showed that 13 Lazio supporters were found guilty of applying the stickers. The 13 have been banned from going to sports events.

Anne Frank was born in Germany but her family fled to the Netherlands to escape the Nazi takeover. They lived in hidden rooms in Amsterdam before they were discovered by German occupiers and deported to concentration camps.

She died in the Bergen-Belsen camp aged 15 and her diary recounting the family’s time in hiding became a centrepiece of Holocaust literature.

The tribunal said Lazio did everything in its power to prevent discriminatory material being introduced in the stadium, noting the stickers were too small to be detected.

However, Lazio was still held "objectively" responsible for the incident as the supporters' representative, the Italian FA said on Thursday (www.figc.it).

The tribunal opted not to ask Lazio to play two matches behind closed doors as the Italian FA prosecutor requested, as this would also punish fans who did not play a part in what happened.

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Roles reversed for AC Milan and Lazio Roma

At the start of the season, AC Milan were seen as a side capable of challenging for Champions League places and even the Serie A title while Lazio were widely expected to hover around mid-table.

Yet when the two sides face each other at the San Siro on Sunday in the first part of a double bill, which also features a Italian Cup game three days later, it will be Lazio in the role of favourites.

Lazio go into the match in third place with 46 points and as Serie A's top scorers, having blasted 56 goals in 21 games, including six matches where they have scored four goals or more.

Milan, meanwhile, are stuck in seventh place with 15 points fewer than their Lazio, despite having spent almost 10 times as much as their opponents in the summer transfer market.

"Nobody gave us much thought before the start of the championship," said Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi after Wednesday's 3-0 win over Udinese. "They expected to see us in 10th place but now everyone is talking about us."

"We must not forget where we started from. The lads deserve the praise but we can still get better."

Inzaghi, the younger brother of former Italy forward Filippo, was initially appointed on a caretaker basis late in the 2015/16 season.

Lazio then named Marcelo Bielsa as their long-term coach during the summer of 2016 but the eccentric Argentine quit after two days and Inzaghi, who had already agreed to coach lower tier Salernitana, was invited back.

Since then, the 41-year-old has emerged as one of the best young coaches in Serie A, taking Lazio to fifth place last season.

According to the specialist website Transfermarkt, Lazio spent just under 29 million euros ($36.01 million) in the summer transfer window with right back Adam Marusic the most expensive purchase at 6.5 million euros from Oostende.

Yet Lazio have a good track record of signings over the last few years with players such as Felipe Anderson, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Stefan de Vrij all rocketing in value since joining the club.

Milan, on the other hand, have spent 230 million euros on new players, according to CEO Marco Fassone, yet have been struggling for consistency ever since they lost 4-1 at Lazio in early September.

Coach Vincenzo Montella was fired in November and replaced by fiery former midfielder Gennaro Gattuso who, although he has a strong identity with Milan, had never coached a Serie A team before.

Gattuso also suffered a rocky start but Milan have enjoyed a mini-revival recently, beating neighbours Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia and winning their last two league games.

"This team has a lot of quality. I see great responsibility from the boys and a sense of belonging," said Gattuso after the 2-1 win at Cagliari on Sunday.

"The management could have done something in this transfer market but I asked them not to because I believe in this team. Some of our lads are very young and so many of our players can still do much more".

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Inter Milan and Roma meet as Serie A restarts

Barely one month ago, Inter Milan against AS Roma would have been considered a clash of two Serie A title contenders, but when they meet at San Siro on Sunday, neither side will be thinking about the Scudetto.

Both teams have faded badly in the last month, leaving leaders Napoli (51 points) and second-placed Juventus (50) in a two-horse race for the title and lowering their own ambitions to a place in next season's Champions League.

The leading pair have opened an eight-point gap over Luciano Spalletti's third-placed Inter while Roma have dropped to fifth, a further three points behind.

Inter went through their first 16 league games unbeaten and led the table on December 9 but have managed only three draws and two defeats in their last five Serie A games, scoring a paltry two goals in the process.

Roma have managed one win in their last five league games and scored three goals.

The match, the highlight of the round which re-starts Serie A following the winter break, will be the second time that Spalletti has faced Roma since leading the team from the capital to second place with a club record points haul last term.

Inter, enduring their sixth successive season without Champions League football, won the first meeting 3-1 at the Stadio Olimpico at the start of the season.

The shaven-headed Spalletti suggested after Inter's last match, a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina, that some of his players were not pulling their weight.

"We must make the effort to give something more on an individual basis, especially considering the quality that we have," he said.

"I would like the lads involved to help contribute to the collective value of the team."

However, he also dismissed suggestions that the January transfer window could solve his side's problems.

"Everyone knows we cannot make big signings in this window," he said. "We can do better by making sure that our players play to their potential. That's how you get over difficult moments."

Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco finds himself in a similar predicament, trying to get the best out of a team who looked superb in October and November but have frustratingly lost their way.

"The one who needs to be fired up first of all is me, trying to get in the heads of the players and making it clear that we ... (must be) the side that finished first in our Champions League group and have given huge problems to all the sides currently ahead of us,” he said.

While Inter and Roma have faded, Napoli and Juventus have pressed on relentlessly, each winning their last four league games.

Juve, aiming for a seventh successive title and lurking one point behind Napoli, have an apparently straightforward home match against struggling Genoa on Monday.

Napoli, on the other hand, have a far more difficult game on Sunday away to Atalanta, who knocked them out of the Coppa Italia three weeks ago and won 2-1 at Roma in their last game.

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‘Dybala must ignore Messi, Ronaldo comparisons’ - Allegri

Paulo Dybala should avoid worrying about comparisons with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo if he wants to become the best player in the world, said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri on Saturday.

The 24-year-old Argentine – linked with a possible move to Manchester United – has not hit the heights of last season despite scoring 14 goals in 19 Serie A games including a double in Saturday's 3-1 win at Verona.

Dybala had been on the bench in the previous three games but started on Saturday and ensured the six-time defending Serie A champions won for the first time in Verona since 2001.

"It's important that Paulo found the net again," said Allegri. "After the goal, he started to play better, as he was in a delicate moment where things weren't quite going his way.

"Psychology is everything in football and confidence is key.

"You have to be focused and determined. I think the only advice for Paulo is to think just about his football and his journey, not worrying about comparisons with players like Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

"In the next three years he will be, together with Neymar, the most important player in the world. Today there are Messi and Ronaldo and it is difficult, but his path is that he has to improve physically, technically and mentally."

Blaise Matuidi scored Juventus's earliest goal this season after six minutes, finishing off a Gonzalo Higuain rebound.

The hosts pulled level just before the hour mark when former Juventus player Martin Caceres scored from 20 yards.

Dybala then hit his five-minute double, the first on 72 minutes when Sami Khedira slid a through-ball to Stephan Lichtsteiner with the right back sending a cross into the box to a waiting Dybala.

The Argentine did the second on his own, dribbling through the Verona defence to seal the win which moved Allegri's side to within a point of Napoli at the end of the first half of the season.

"What I hope for the second half of the season is that Juventus stay in the running on all three fronts," said Allegri, who also refused to rule out the chasing pack of Inter Milan, AC Milan and Lazio who all failed to win on Saturday.

"It was important to increase the gap on those behind us and remain close to Napoli," he said.

"The others are not out, there are still lots of games to play. The championship will be resolved in the last games."

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Roma to play 'Schick plus 10 more' against Sassuolo

AS Roma will field 'Patrik Schick plus 10 other players' in their next match, coach Eusebio Di Franscesco said on Friday as he backed the Czech striker following his key miss against Juventus.

Roma, who host Sassuolo on Saturday, were beaten 1-0 at Juventus in their last Serie A game but would have taken a point from Turin had Schick converted a golden chance in stoppage time.

The 21-year-old was sent galloping clear of the Juve defence but sent his shot straight at goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

"Schick will definitely start tomorrow," Di Francesco said. "It will be Schick plus 10 others. It can happen that you miss a goal-scoring chance in the 94th minute in a game of that importance.

"It weighs heavily but he needs to have the strength to get over that. Right now, he's the player I'm sticking closest to – he's an asset to the club and a strong player."

Schick has had a difficult time since moving to Roma from Sampdoria in the close season. He suffered an injury which kept him out of action for nearly two months and has failed to score in six league outings.

"He needs to improve and has a long way to go," said Di Francesco. "We've worked a great deal on the psychological side of things to get over that error against Juventus as quickly as possible."

Fourth-placed Roma have hit an indifferent patch with two wins, two draws and a defeat in their last five league outings.

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Marek Hamsik ensures Napoli end year on top

Napoli's record goal-scorer Marek Hamsik scored again to keep his side top of Serie A with a 1-0 win at Crotone on Friday as they sealed the symbolic title of Winter Champions. It was the 117th goal in a Napoli shirt for the Slovakian international who last week overtook Diego Maradona as the club's all-time leading scorer.

Maurizio Sarri's side end 2017 with just one defeat in 19 games, against champions Juventus, who are four points behind ahead of their trip on Saturday to struggling Verona.

"It was important to bring home the three points," said Hamsik. "But this title (Winter Champions) means nothing. We were already on the right track three years ago, but we realise it means nothing, as we want to be top at the end of the season."

"Statistics mean nothing," continued Sarri, whose side are the only team in Europe's top five leagues who are unbeaten away. 

"It's a strong run, reaching the Champions League is very important for us, so having 48 points at the midway stage of the season gives us hope," added the coach.

With Serie A playing through the Christmas holidays for the first time in nearly 30 years, Napoli's players showed signs of fatigue with Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne missing several chances. The visitors started Friday's game in Calabria with a badge on their sleeves marking Hamsik's 116 goals and they counted on him to pull them through.

Hamsik opened the scoring after 17 minutes with a low finish from inside the box after a pass from Allan with the Brazilian playing a key role. Crotone's new coach Walter Zenga was furious his side were not awarded a penalty for an apparent Mertens handball on 65 minutes.

Napoli could have pulled further ahead but were wasteful in front of goal, while Crotone goalkeeper Alex Cordaz saved shots from Amadou Diawara and Jose Callejon.

And the Napoli coach praised 26-year-old Allan's role on the night. "I think Allan deserves a Brazil call-up," said Sarri.

"I also hope they don't call him up, as we need him. It's a real problem with the South American sides, as the journeys and logistics are complicated."

Crotone stay third from bottom after their 12th loss in 19 games. Napoli are four points clear of six-time defending champions Juventus. Inter Milan, in third, are at home to fifth-placed Lazio just days after their Italian Cup exit to city rivals AC Milan.

Inter are two points ahead of Roma, who host Sassuolo, with Lazio a further two points back in fifth with the two teams from the capital both having a game in hand.

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