Juve hope defender Chiellini will be fit for Bayern game
REUTERS - Juventus are hoping influential defender Giorgio Chiellini will return from injury in time for Wednesday's last-16 Champions League clash against German champions Bayern Munich, manager Massimilliano Allegri said on Thursday.
The Italy international will miss Friday's Serie A encounter with Sassuolo with a calf muscle injury which he suffered during a Feb. 28 victory over Inter Milan, his first game after recovering from a muscle tear [nL8N15O3VT].
"Apart from (Martin) Caceres and Chiellini, whom the doctors will try to make recover for Bayern, everyone is available (for Friday)," Allegri told a news conference.
Juventus are aiming to win their fifth successive Serie A title, something they last did in the 1930s.
They top the table courtesy of an 18-game unbeaten league run, which includes 17 victories, and the last time they lost in the league was against Friday's opponents Sassuolo on Oct. 28, but Allegri is taking nothing for granted.
"We're into the descent but the descent can be more dangerous than the ascent... because you can slip up on the descent," he said.
(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi and Anna Jaworska-Guidotti in Gdynia; editing by Clare Fallon)