Rossoneri rivalry

“We’ve an eight-point advantage over Roma, but the title race is still open and we need to make sure of picking up all three points tomorrow.

“We can expect a tough match against a Milan team who are coming off the back of two positive results. They’re quick, technically strong and, at the end of the day, Juventus vs Milan is still a very big game in Italian football, despite the number of points currently separating us in the table. In recent years, this has always been a very evenly matched contest.”

Montella’s Milan

“Even if I don’t know exactly what (Milan manager) Vincenzo Montella will do tomorrow, they’ve a pretty clear way of playing.

They won’t be fielding their usual playmakers, given that Giacomo Bonaventura is out, but in the shape of Gerard Deulofeu they’ve a guy who’s very skilled in one-on-one situations and tends to open up the game.

“In the midfield they’ve some strong physical presences too, so we know that it will be a very tough encounter.”

Bianconeri team news

“Chiellini is definitely out of action tomorrow, meaning that one of Benatia, Rugani and Barzagli will partner Bonucci at the centre of defence. Right now Benatia looks the most likely of the three to get the nod.

“I’ll decide later today whether to field Pjaca or instead go with an extra midfielder. Marko prefers playing down the left so he can cut inside, but he’s also been doing well on the right. Dani Alves too is capable of playing further forwards.

“Lemina is in the picture and training with the rest of the squad. Meanwhile, Sturaro is expected to be back in time for the match against Sampdoria on 19 March.

“Regarding Kean, he’s a lad who is developing quickly and, if necessary, I’ll hand him game time against Milan.”

After five years of success in Turin, the Gioca con Me programme is set to be rolled out across five territories abroad, ensuring that the Bianconeri club’s community reach extends far beyond the walls of their home city.

Central to Juventus’ continued efforts towards fighting discrimination and fostering integration, this project represents just one part of the fruitful collaboration with UNESCO – a world leader in championing the values of culture and sports as a vehicle to achieve peace – sealed officially on 29 May 2014, when Andrea Agnelli and Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director–General, signed an ambitious and pioneering Partnership Agreement.

From September 2016, onwards throughout the remainder of the current season, Gioca con Me is set to be launched in five other J|Academy sites around the world. Specifically in Tunis – Tunisia, Beirut- Lebanon,

Lima – Peru, Guatemala City – Guatemala and Bogotá – Colombia, allowing more children than ever before to learn the Juventus way.

Gioca con Me enables a total of 60 youngsters, 12 per each location, between the ages of five and nine to train with Juventus Academies in their countries, completely free of charge. The project – which has been running in Turin since 2012 – aims to make it easier for young people, selected by their host institutions on the basis of good behaviour and results in the classroom, belonging to the more disadvantaged social classes to be able to practice sport. The project aims also to use football as a catalyst to promote a culture of respect, tolerance and social awareness.

Thanks to the strong commitment both of the Juventus Academies and of the UNESCO local offices, and the involvement of local schools, participating children to the Gioca con Me scheme will receive the best possible education in the values of sport both on and off the field, all while being fully integrated alongside the other participants.

This move marks the latest demonstration of Juventus’ commitment to combining sports with education – as a way to help each single child grow as people and not just footballers – and encouraging greater integration at the heart of the game.

As with Gioca con Me, the projects undertaken by the club have clear underlying values such as respect for teamwork, spirit of sacrifice and education. An educated child who is encouraged to behave responsibly in the future will become an adult who is ready to enter the world of work and interact well in society.

Juventus’ commitment alongside UNESCO to further integration at the heart of the game and educating the next generation of young footballers has been reinforced by the introduction of a “Soft Skills Manual”, which aims at offering the best possible education both on and off the pitch.

The Manual, which refers to the UNESCO International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport is being distributed to all J|Academy head coaches across the world and provides essential guidelines on how to offer a complete educational approach which places great attention on fostering cognitive abilities considered fundamental for the youngsters’ development.

The coaches themselves, in fact, have the crucial role of ensuring the physical and psychological wellbeing of the children who participate in the J|Academy programme. To this end, the Manual contains a series of techniques – including conversation methods, best practices and specific training ideas – aimed at helping the coaches provide the youngsters with the best support possible.

After all, football is not only passion and entertainment but also respect, integration, teamwork and friendship.

Today Juventus wishes a very happy birthday to a natural-born fighter, as Stefano Sturaro turns 24.

Stefano is one of those players who never gives anything less than 100 per cent on the pitch and his combative qualities have come to the fore again this season. His 24 tackles won at an average of 2.66 per game make him the Bianconeri’s best ball-winner in 2016/17.

Such displays saw the Ligurian midfielder offered a contract extension in December of last year, as he continues to raise the bar following highly promising performances early on in his Juve career, not least in the Champions League against Real Madrid in 2015 and Bayern Munich the season after.

With a bright Bianconeri future ahead of him, everyone at Juventus wishes Stefano many happy returns on his special day.

So far so good this season

“We’re on course to reach the objectives that we set ourselves at the start of the season: we’re top of the league and in a good position to qualify for the next round in the Champions League and Coppa Italia.

“Leagues campaigns aren’t won in early March. We wanted to extend our lead over Roma and we managed that. The fact that we did so by not playing at our best is even more significant.”

Match-ups with Milan

“I’m sure that Juventus vs Milan will become a decisive match for the title race again in the future just like it always has been and always should be. This year they’re doing very well and credit must go to Vincenzo Montella, the players and the club as a whole.

“When I think about what happened in Doha, it was a pity missing the opportunity to lift silverware, but Milan were deserving of their win. They were humble, flawless and played some great football. That match served as a lesson to us that if we want to keep impressing, we needed to change our mentality.”

The key to keeping clean sheets

“If you’re able to keep a clean sheet, you must simply do so. A top club must never show signs of carelessness and I’ve been able to see how it’s precisely this attention to detail that is the key to everything.

“Your mental approach needs to be spot-on and you have to be in great shape physically. That’s what has happened in our last matches where we’ve conceded very few goals thanks to a real tenacity among the defenders, not to mention the strikers who work their socks off up front.”

Gigi on Gigi

“I’ve often sung his praises before (Milan keeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma) and I’ll do so again here. He’s proving just what an incredible talent he is.

“He’s a young lad with his feet on the ground with room to improve yet further and bags of time to do so. He’s raising his game each year and this season he’s been top drawer once again.

Talk of the treble?

“The ‘treble’ is an arduous work in footballing vocabulary, but when you’re Juventus you need to always be thinking big. We must continue to dream while remaining humble at the same time.”

As chance would have it, Juventus vs Milan was Giampiero Boniperti’s first ever match for the Bianconeri back on 2 March 1947.

Although the quick-heeled, predatory striker didn’t find the net that day in a disappointing 2-1 defeat, he would not have to wait long to open his account against the Rossoneri. In May of the following year, his first full season in the black and white, Giampiero struck in the 56^th minute to help them secure a 2-1 scoreline this time in the Turin club’s favour.

It was not just all goals and glory for Boniperti, however. He would have to endure a four-year long barren run in the fixture, during which the Bianconeri suffered a 7-1 home loss in the process.

Just like the Old Lady, Giampiero showed he was made of sterner stuff and duly revived his form against Milan, scoring in a crucial 3-1 victory en route to the the 1952 Scudetto title.

He never looked back from there, filling his boots with a flurry of goals towards the end of his career to become the club’s joint-top scorer alongside Felice Borel in arguably the most high-profile fixture in Italian football with nine strikes to his name.

As with a number of other fixtures in the calendar, the history of Juventus vs Milan would have been very different had Alessandro Del Piero not been involved.

Juve’s iconic former number 10 scored seven times in 25 Serie A matches against the Rossoneri, including his first ever outing at the San Siro in October 1995.

Ever deadly from set pieces, Alex stole the show at the Stadio Delle Alpi in March 1998, his first-half penalty and ferocious free-kick from range helping Marcello Lippi’s men to a 4-1 success.