Buffon guaranteed to start on Juventus return, assures Allegri

Gianluigi Buffon will not have to worry about battling Wojciech Szczesny for his Juventus starting berth after he returns to training this week, says Massimiliano Allegri.

Veteran goalkeeper Buffon has started just two Serie A matches since October due to a calf problem, but Szczesny has been a capable back-up with 10 clean sheets in 15 appearances in all competitions.

The latest of the Poland international's shutouts came in the 1-0 victory over Genoa on Monday, but Allegri revealed the 39-year-old will be back in training this week and can expect a swift return to first-team action.

"Buffon will return in the week, he's ready to do so and so are others," Allegri told Premium Sport. "He's the starter, even if Szczesny is having an impressive season."

The former AC Milan boss would not respond to Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri's claim that Juve will benefit from kicking off ahead of the Serie A leaders in the coming week.

"It's not up to me when we play, I won't reply to Sarri who should be happy with the result [a 1-0 win against Atalanta on Sunday] and being top of the league," said Allegri.

"It's a beautiful duel at the moment. I have nothing more to say. There are governing bodies who can respond to this, I don't understand how the calendar works."

On Juve's performance in the narrow win over Genoa, he added: "We were a little bit tired at the end of the game, more than being anxious about the result.

"There was a desire to get a result at home and we worked very hard during the week. It was important to win to stay in Napoli's slipstream and start again after the mid-season break.

"The lads worked really hard during the week, and that workload made it difficult [on Monday]. At the same time, though, we didn't give Genoa anything."