Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw away to Crotone on Saturday evening, with forward Paulo Dybala being overlooked for selection.
The manager Andrea Pirlo has stated that the 26 year-old had only managed to train for 10 minutes the day before the match, which was the reason he was left out of the fixture.
Dybala was named amongst the substitutes however, as his side failed to beat the bottom of the table side, although the officials decisions were not on our side.
We fell behind thanks to a soft early penalty, picked up a straight red card for one of our better players on the day for a mistimed challenge, before having a winner ruled out for offside after an extended period of time, and numerous other close calls went against us.
Despite chasing that illusive winner late on, the manager refused to use any more than the three substitutes to bring on Dybala, and we of course failed to seal the win.
The Argentine international is believed to have been fuming with the decision not to play him, with TuttSport stating that he made his feelings clear to Juve chief Fabio Paritici in the tunnel.
You can understand the player’s frustration given the result, and his passion to want to help push us forwards, and while I would love to have seen Dybala come on and grab a winner, that wasn’t guaranteed either.
Dybala should be a key figure for us once again this season, and Pirlo may well have made the correct decision not to risk him being fit going forwards.
If you wasn’t convinced over his condition, would you have risked a new injury to Dybala in search of that winning goal?
NO, I wouldn’t have risked La Joya, who hasn’t even begun to get his season off the ground, for this match. I, as a fan, was rooting for him to be brought on late to play in tandem with Morata, but we do not have the medical and practice time information that Pirlo has.