Just a few days ahead of their match against Juventus in Turin, Roma were dealt major blow after it was revealed that central defender Chris Smalling would miss the showdown due to injury.
The news comes after the Englishman was forced to come off early during this past weekend’s league fixture against Hellas Verona, which the Giallorossi won by a scoreline of 3-1.
Smalling came up injured early on in the first half against the Venetian’s and asked manager Paulo Fonseca to be replaced. After being assessed throughout the past two days, the defender underwent scans at Villa Stuart today to learn the extent of the injury.
Sky Sport reports that Smalling has been diagnosed with a strain in his left thigh and will miss this weekend’s affair against the Bianconeri.
As was the case on Sunday, Marash Kumbulla is expected to replace him in Fonseca’s starting eleven and slot in alongside Gianluca Mancini and Roger Ibañez at the back.
Meanwhile, Juventus will also be without an important name on Saturday. Attacker Paulo Dybala will be unavailable for Andrea Pirlo this weekend as he continues to recover from a knee injury.
The Argentine, who has already been ruled out for tonight’s Coppa Italia clash against Inter, has been dealing with the problem for nearly one month and remains on the mend.
Dybala isn’t expect to be completely fit for at least another week and his chances of taking part in Saturday’s game are slim.
