Sarri calls for Juventus midfielders to carry more attacking threat

Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri has urged midfielders Aaron Ramsey, Sami Khedira and Adrien Rabiot to offer more in attack ahead of their Serie A trip to Roma.

The Bianconeri remain second in the table after their 4-0 win over Cagliari on Monday, when Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick.

Of Juve's 35 Serie A goals this season, 23 have been scored by strikers Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain, while Miralem Pjanic, with three, is the only midfielder to have scored more than once.

With Higuain still struggling with a hamstring injury, Sarri wants to see those behind Ronaldo and Dybala carry a greater attacking threat.

"Given the quality of the players I have at my disposal, the rotations don't change the philosophy of the game much," he said at a news conference.

"We can be better at exploiting the spaces created by Ronaldo and Dybala; Ramsey, Khedira and Rabiot all have the characteristics to do it.

"Dybala starts his runs a little deeper and Ronaldo off centre. Higuain therefore resolves an issue of getting bodies in the box."

#Sarri: We can be better at exploiting the spaces created by @Cristiano and @PauDybala_JR. @aaronramsey, @SamiKhedira and #Rabiot have the characteristics to do so. The press conference has ended... recap coming soon!#RomaJuve #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/LO2QTbTcxI

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) 11 January 2020

Roma lost at home to Juventus' neighbours Torino on Sunday, ending a seven-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

They drew at league leaders Inter during that sequence, and beat Milan and Napoli at home earlier in the season, with Sarri acutely aware of the threat posed by Paulo Fonseca's side.

"I expect Fonseca's team to make a good impression; he's working well, he's a great coach," Sarri added.

"He has a lot of technical players and he knows how to snatch the game when Roma regain the ball, but they also know how to recapture the ball after lost possession. They can be very dangerous."

Defender Matthijs de Ligt was once again an unused substitute against Cagliari, though Sarri insisted he is close to returning to full fitness.

"De Ligt is starting to improve," Sarri said.

"He still has a shoulder injury, but we hope he will return as soon as possible."