Filippi defends Conte involvement

Juventus goalkeeping coach Claudio Filippi has defended the decision to allow banned boss Antonio Conte to train his side behind closed doors.

The Serie A champions, who are unbeaten in 44 games, take on Roma on Saturday – a grudge match because of a long-standing feud between Juve and Roma’s coach, the legendary Zdenek Zeman.

He made few friends in Turin when he recently questioned the decision to allow banned head coach Antonio Conte to train his team, but Filippi is only concentrating on the game in hand.

“Well, we are directly involved, both Massimo (Carrera, caretaker coach) and I, but aside from whatever Zeman declared, we are part of the technical staff and we talk about football, which is the most important thing at the moment,” Filippi said.

“Any debate aims to heighten the tension before a match and that’s not a good thing for us.

“Today’s training session will be very important for us because its’ the last one before the match and after a lot of matches in a row.

“After today’s training session we will have clearer ideas and the manager will give us some indications on who’s going play and be with us for the match.

“Roma are a strong team, they have important players and I share Zeman’s opinion – they’re a team that will fight to win the Scudetto this season.”