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SERIE A

Juve to Rest Higuain Ahead of Barca Tie

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Juventus are poised to give star striker Gonzalo Higuain a rest against Chievo with the upcoming Champions League tie against Barcelona in mind.
Massimiliano Allegri’s men host Chievo in Serie A on Saturday, three days before they welcome Barca to Turin for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
Higuain scored twice to help Juve into the Coppa Italia final at his former club Napoli’s expense this week but is now set to get a break, with regular number 10 Paulo Dybala instead playing in a more advanced role in the likely absence of Mario Mandzukic (knee).
“Mario Mandzukic is unlikely to be in the squad. Higuain? Here is a good idea – maybe I could play Paulo Dybala at centre-forward,” Allegri said at his pre-match media conference.
“Dybala is fine. In fact, he needs to play – Paulo is an aerobic player, a player that runs 12 kilometres per game. The more he plays, the better he improves his condition.
“On Wednesday he played 70 minutes, so I would say he is in an acceptable condition but not an optimal one. So he needs to play and from there we will evaluate.”

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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