Juventus vs Genoa preview - Juve looking to bounce back

Posted Saturday, October 26, 2013 by PA

Juventus are ready to take out their recent frustrations on Genoa when the two sides meet on Sunday in Turin.

Antonio Conte's men lost their unbeaten run in Serie A last weekend after surprisingly falling 4-2 at Fiorentina before going down to a 2-1 defeat at Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Juve had defender Giorgio Chiellini sent off against Madrid for a foul on Cristiano Ronaldo early in the second half and remain winless in the European competition.

"It's true that we face an uphill journey to qualify," Conte said. "But we proved against Real Madrid that we can play at this level and make life difficult for one of the teams that are favourites to win the title.

"It's frustrating because Chiellini should not have been sent off.

"Had we not played in numerical inferiority, maybe we could have won."

Conte will be hoping his players do not make the same mistakes against Genoa that saw them throw away a 2-0 lead and concede four goals in the space of 16 minutes against Fiorentina.

"It's really disappointing to lose a game as we did against Fiorentina," Juve defender Andrea Barzagli said.

"We had an inexcusable blackout and we only have ourselves to blame."

The outcome dropped Juve to third place, level on 19 points with Napoli and five points adrift of league leaders Roma.

Rivals Genoa will be hoping veteran striker Alberto Gilardino can pick up where he left off in last weekend's 2-1 win over Chievo as they look to end Juve's unbeaten run at home.

Gilardino struck two goals to hand the Grifoni their second win of the campaign and the first under coach Gian Piero Gasperini.

"These goals are not just important for me but for Genoa," Gilardino said. "We really needed a victory and through determination and focus we got it.

"Now we need to give continuity to this result, knowing that it will not be easy in Turin."

Genoa are 15th in the standings, three points clear of the drop zone.

The visitors will be without injured midfielder Mario Santana.