Coach Andrea Pirlo said Cristiano Ronaldo is “fired up” and ready to go ahead of Juventus’ crunch Champions League clash with Porto on Tuesday.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner was handed a timely rest on Saturday as Juventus saw off Lazio 3-1 in Serie A, with Alvaro Morata bagging a brace that allowed an illustrious colleague to see just 21 minutes of game time off the bench.
That cameo appearance has helped Ronaldo to keep ticking over, with an all-time great readying himself for another outing on the kind of stage that he usually dazzles on – with Juve needing inspiration from somewhere as they seek to overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is fine, these are his matches. He’s fired up, he’s been able to rest and can’t wait,” Pirlo told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s last-16 encounter in Turin.
The Serie A champions have been nursing a number of niggling knocks over recent weeks, but vital experience is set to be at their disposal against Porto.
Pirlo added when asked for a fitness update: “[Giorgio] Chiellini trained with the group today, he feels good and I think he can be available tomorrow (Tuesday).
“[Matthijs] De Ligt has worked with the group just in terms of warm-up, then he did an individual training session. Arthur is not at 100 per cent but he could start tomorrow, we are hoping that he can last a while.
“[Federico] Bernardeschi is fine and he has the possibilities to play from the start like the others but tomorrow morning I’ll decide.
Morata is finding his best form at the right time. Morata had not scored in the league since December and was sidelined recently with illness but the forward has scored three times in his last two matches.
He has scored six goals in this season’s Champions League, two more than Ronaldo.
“Morata is improving a lot, he’s so ambitious, he looks for different solutions against different teams, he likes to read up on his opponents and this is a very positive aspect for a striker of his high level,” Pirlo said.
Juventus require a positive result in midweek in order to keep their European dreams for 2020-21 alive.
A shock defeat in an initial meeting with Porto has them in a difficult position, but an away goal has been registered and one more effort would be enough to see them into the quarter finals.
“We know very well that the pressure is on us, but we don’t hide. We have what it takes to go through, but we don’t underestimate our opponent. Porto are a very good and solid team, but we are Juventus and we have to think about qualifying. Tomorrow we can’t make mistakes and will have to manage the 90 minutes with our best concentration and energy,” Pirlo said.
Haaland boost Borussia Dortmund’s Giovanni Reyna and Raphael Guerreiro are doubtful for their second leg at home to Sevilla on Tuesday but leading striker Erling Haaland will be fit, coach Edin Terzic said on Monday.
Dortmund, who suffered a 4-2 defeat at Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga on Saturday, are already without the injured Jadon Sancho, who has been sidelined for several weeks. The Ruhr valley club won the first leg against Sevilla 3-2 in Spain.
England international Sancho as well as midfielders Reyna and Guerreiro all missed Saturday’s loss to Bayern but the latter two are racing to be fit in time for Tuesday’s match.
“For Jadon it is a matter of weeks. For Raphael and Gio it is a matter of days. We do not know if it will be in time for tomorrow. We hope they are fit tomorrow,” Terzic told a virtual news conference.
He added that top scorer Haaland, who was taken off on the hour in the Bayern game after scoring twice, was fit to play.
“Erling looks unaffected by it (minor knock against Bayern) and we expect him to be there tomorrow (Tuesday),” Terzic said.
UCL MATCHES today
• Juventus vs Porto
• Dortmund vs Sevilla
