Chiesa misses Coppa Italia tie in Allegri’s 400th Juventus game

Juventus forward Federico Chiesa will miss the Coppa Italia quarterfinal with Frosinone, but is expected to return for its next league game, manager Massimiliano Allegri said on Wednesday.

Chiesa missed the 2-1 win at Salernitana last weekend with a knee injury, and while he sits out the Coppa clash on Thursday, Juve’s next league game against Sassuolo is not until Tuesday.

“Chiesa won’t be available. Today his knee was better, it’s nothing to worry about and if everything goes according to plan, we will certainly have him available on Tuesday,” Allegri told a press conference.

Andrea Cambiaso also missed the last game through illness, but the defender has recovered in time to make the bench against Frosinone, and Allegri gave an update on the other injury concerns.

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“Cambiaso is better, so we have Chiesa, (Adrien) Rabiot, (Mattia) De Sciglio, who is making his way back, and (Moise) Kean all unavailable.

“The others are all available. (Mattia) Perin will play in goal, (Federico) Gatti and Bremer will play in defence, then I have to decide the third defender between (Daniele) Rugani and Danilo.”

Manuel Locatelli was suspended for the Salernitana win but will return to the midfield, and Allegri is still undecided about who will start in attack.

“(Dusan) Vlahovic, (Kenan) Yildiz and (Arkadiusz) Milik are all doing well up front,” the manager said.

“Tomorrow I will choose the two starters out of the three of them, but as I always say, the changes within the game will also be fundamental.”

Allegri won five league titles along with lifting the Coppa Italia four times in his first spell in charge at Juventus, and the game with Frosinone sees him reach an important milestone.

“My 400th match on the bench has an important value, I am very happy because having reached this milestone with Juventus is a great honour for me,” Allegri said.

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“Tomorrow, however, the most important thing is to win the match, go through and reach the semi-final.”

Standing in his way is a Frosinone side which knocked Napoli out of the competition in the last round to reach the quarterfinals for the first time.

“Frosinone score goals in every match, create many opportunities and won 4-0 in Naples, so we need to play a high-level match,” Allegri said.

“It is a team that plays carefree, and for them, it is a unique opportunity to reach the semi-finals.”

The winner will take on either Lazio or AS Roma, who meet on Wednesday.