Carrera coy over Conte attendance against Fiorentina

Massimo Carrera has played down the significance of Antonio Conte potentially attending Juventus’ Serie A fixture against Fiorentina on Tuesday.

The Scudetto-winning coach incurred a 10-month touchline ban before the start of the season after being found guilty of involvement in the Scommessopoli betting scandal, but sections of the Italian media claim that he could be a spectator at the Artemio Franchi.

However, speaking at a press conference in Vinovo ahead of the league meeting with Vincenzo Montella’s men, the caretaker boss insists he shares the same line of thinking with Conte, and for that reason does not believe his presence could make an impact on the side’s fortunes.

“Antonio and I are on the same wavelength, that’s for sure,” Carrera said.

“He might not even come to Florence to watch the game, because for the past month and a half, we have worked this way.

“We have refined a method of telepathy, so we will carry on thinking the same way. We work during the week and we know what we must do in any case.

“We think the same way, we see football in the same way, we played together, we know what we want from the team and I think this is the most important thing.”

Juventus and Fiorentina have developed a fierce rivalry in recent times following an incident on the last day of the 1981-82 Serie A campaign, when a fortuitous penalty saw Juve pip the Viola to the title, but Carrera is confident that both sets of fans will be on their best behaviour.

“I hope that nothing happens between the fans, and ends with banter, as it should be in football,” he added.

“There is a rivalry, but I hope everything is sorted in the best way possible. Certainly we are aware of our strengths. We have improved our squad and we know what we have to do. More importantly, we know our aims and that we need to work hard in order to improve.

“We are only on the fourth matchday, and surely the other teams will begin to pick up form. We know that the road is still long.”

Moving on to their opposition, Carrera expects to face a Fiorentina side who will employ a similar style of possession football to that of his own team, but concedes their 43-match-long unbeaten run in the league will act as extra motivation for other domestic clubs.

“It will be a difficult game because we know every team wants to beat us. We will find a team that will almost certainly mirror our style of play.”