Juventus' Sarri Discusses Resting Cristiano Ronaldo, Giorgio Chiellini's Return

Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri explained he had to come up with a new system so he could rest Cristiano Ronaldo against Brescia on Sunday, while the returning Giorgio Chiellini all but forced Sarri to let him come on as a substitute in his return from injury.

Sarri opted to rest Ronaldo in the 2-0 win over Brescia despite the team's struggles of late. The move paid off, but the coach told Sky Italia (h/t Football Italia) it required a formation change to accommodate both Aaron Ramsey and Paulo Dybala:

"We decided to let Ronaldo rest today, as he cannot play every single game, so we came up with this system for this game. At this moment, we are playing more with a trident than a trequartista. That’s because Ramsey has made it clear he prefers to play in midfield rather than as a trequartista. Dybala prefers to be more advanced.

"I thought Ramsey was improving over the last couple of games, he’s much better in the movements and doing well in defence too. It’s clear throughout history that English players struggle to settle into Italian football, as we are far more tactical and not quite as free as they are in the Premier League, but I believe he’s over the hump and on his way towards making a real difference."

Dybala got the opener in the win, and Juan Cuadrado doubled the lead in the second half. Juventus had enough chances to score at least five or six goals against a Brescia team that played the bulk of the match with 10 men:

Ronaldo had scored in 10 straight Serie A matches, but despite his great form Juventus had just one win in their last four games across all competitions. That made resting him on Sunday a major risk.

Per Italian football writer Carlo Garganese, it took the Bianconeri some time to figure out the best system to deal with Brescia:

With matches against Lyon, Inter and AC Milan on the horizon, Sarri has one more opportunity to rest his stars and figure out his best formation at the same time. The next match will be against SPAL on Saturday, before the trip to France on February 26.

The Bianconeri received a major boost with the return of Chiellini, who played his first minutes since tearing his ACL in the Serie A opener in August against Parma.

The 35-year-old received a warm welcome from the home fans:

According to Sarri, Chiellini had been trying to talk the coach into letting him play since Saturday, and he didn't leave him much of a choice during the match: "To be honest, Chiellini substituted himself! I turned around and he was there in my face with his jersey on asking: 'Mister, how long?' He’s been going on about it since yesterday, wanting the last 10 minutes, so I couldn’t resist!"

Chiellini appeared to make it through his cameo unscathed, but Miralem Pjanic had to be substituted just minutes after he came on, adding another injury concern for Sarri.