Following their shocking exit from the Champions League after a heart-breaking defeat to Benfica earlier this week, Juventus will now need to refocus on domestic affairs for the time being.
The Bianconeri have struggled to make inroads in domestic and continental competitions since the start of the season, but Massimiliano Allegri's side will be hoping to put their European disappointment behind them as they prepare to travel to face minnows Lecce on Saturday.
However, as Juventus, who presently sit in eighth place, aim to make it three wins on the spin in Serie A, La Vecchia Signora will have to get the job done without an increasing and alarming growing list of unavailable players.
Ahead of Saturday's match, the Turin side will be missing a massive number of senior players, including Paul Pogba, Federico Chiesa, Angel Di Maria, Manuel Locatelli, Dusan Vlahovic, Leandro Paredes, and Mattia De Sciglio. Reports from Italy thus claim that Allegri only has 19 players available for selection, and so dire is the injury crisis that he had to rustle up some youth players to even get 19 men for Saturday's game.
Among the youngsters promoted for this game include Samuel Iling-Junior, who was previously on the books for Chelsea's youth team. The 19-year-old has already gotten a taste of senior football, having made his Champions League debut during Juve's unfortunate 4-3 loss to Benfica earlier this week, but nonetheless grabbed himself an assist for the second of his team's goals. In addition, Iling-Junior also grabbed some minutes during Juventus's 4-0 win over Empoli on October 21st after being introduced as a substitute in the 84th minute.
Juventus are presently in eighth place in the table, ten points behind current league leaders Napoli and despite their injury woes, will certainly fancy their chances at picking up a third consecutive league win against a Lecce side who have won just one Serie A match so far this season.
