On the eve of the trip to the Tuscany region, Claudio Ranieri introduced the match in the usual press conference. First of all he made an important premise, to explain the spirit with which the Bianconeri will play. “The Italian Cup is an important target for us; it’s the way for us to ease back into playing frequent matches”.

Frequent matches equals turnover in Juventus' Manager's vocabulary. For this reason, several of the players who've been employed more will stay home, among them Buffon, Trezeguet, Nedved, Zanetti and Chiellini. As Olivera is suspended, and with Camoranesi still injured (like Andrade), and Zebina resting as a precaution, three Youth team boys are in the 20-man squad list too: midfielders Cosentini and Esposito and forward Pasquato.

Ranieri will employ those who have had fewer chances to play until now, and this is another reason for the Manager to be interested in the match: “It's part of my philosophy, I've always shuffled my teams around a lot, I'm not the kind of Manager who only counts on 10-12 players, I want to count on everyone. That's why I expect those who play to show that they deserve my trust. It'll be useful to me and the Club, to decide who stays next year. I don't have two teams here, I always have Juventus”.

And talking of decisions for next year, Ranieri and the Club will also be paying close attention to some of Thursday's opponents. Piccolo, Marchisio, Giovinco and Volpato will try to show their worth, as they already did during the League match at the end of October. “We've been following them very closely since the start of the season. They're at Empoli to grow and gain experience. They are our future”.

Source: juventus.it