Juventus, Sarri's pre-match comments ahead of Lazio

Juventus and Lazio will face off at the Stadio Olimpico this weekend. The bianconeri trail Inter for first place, and ahead of the match, coach Maurizio Sarri stressed how important it was for his team to collect the three points. "Right now Inzaghi's squad gives the impression it can fight for a scudetto. The team is strong. 18 points in six matches and now they can insert themselves in the fight. In the match after the Champions League we had a lot of difficulty, in an unconscious way the motivation drops. This time I'm certain that we'll respond on the pitch. The points mean everything. I hope that having a team in front will be extra motivation us."

Bernardeschi? He is a very sensible lad, an important player for us, he doesn't need to change his game, my job is to push him forward not rest him. Emre Can? His exclusion from Champions League was a mental burden. But in the league he's been great and is always a consideration. Khedira is a tough loss, his knee condition got worse, that was the decision to operate on it. I'm not happy with the situation in midfield. Luckily Rabiot is healthy, he trained with the team, he needs to find his conditioning. Bentancur is an important player, but being young he has lots of room to improve"