Sarri rules out Juventus front four after benching Dybala against Fiorentina

Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri ruled out fielding a front four as he warned it would mean having to rein in Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sarri was speaking after his team beat Fiorentina 3-0 with a pair of Ronaldo penalties to firm up top spot in Serie A.

Matthijs de Ligt headed the third goal in the final moments, on a day when Juventus began with Paulo Dybala as a substitute, Sarri preferring a front three of Douglas Costa with Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain.

Sarri earlier this season played down talk of regularly fielding an attacking three but has since often done so; however, talk of playing four forwards together was dismissed by the former Chelsea boss.

"We have many attacking players at an extraordinary level," Sarri said. "There are many solutions but they are not simple to put together."

Speaking of Costa, Sarri said: "I preferred to go with him to give us more width. When you leave out someone like Dybala you have bitterness, it's a blasphemy. But I have to deal with balance."

Asked about playing all four attackers together, Sarri added, according to Gazzetta dello Sport: "You'd have to sacrifice the characteristics of these players, starting with Ronaldo who would really have to stay out wide. It would be a waste."

Good to get back to victories and happy to score again in our stadium! Proud to reach 50 goals with the bianconeri shirt! #finoallafine #forzajuve pic.twitter.com/pzBrER9Uzt

— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) February 2, 2020

Juventus bounced back well from the defeat at Napoli in their previous game, with Ronaldo reaching 50 goals for the club.

De Ligt said on the Juventus website: "It was the answer that we had to give. In the first half, we had some difficulties against a compact team, then we stepped it up."