Injury-hit Juventus welcome back Koopmeiners for Parma test

Thiago Motta confirmed midfielder Teun Koopmeiners will be available for Juventus’ upcoming Serie A clash with Parma on Wednesday.

Koopmeiners, who joined Juventus from Atalanta in the summer, has missed the last three matches after sustaining a rib fracture in a 1-1 draw with Cagliari earlier this month.

The Dutch international had made seven appearances in all competitions for his new club before his injury, notching one assist in a win against Genoa.

Koopmeiners’ return to action is a timely boost for Motta, though he revealed Juventus are still without injured trio Gleison Bremer, Arek Milik, and Douglas Luiz.

“We won’t have Gleison, Douglas, Nico or Arek but we will recover Koop. We’ll see if he can start from the first minute or be with us during the game,” Motta told reporters.

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Juventus come into the game against Parma on the back of an enthralling 4-4 draw with Inter in the Derby d’Italia over the weekend.

Kenan Yildiz scored a second-half brace to seal a share of the spoils at the San Siro, but the Bianconeri remain five points behind leaders Napoli in Serie A.

Motta was happy with his side’s previous showing, but bemoaned their defensive lapses, having conceded two penalties against Inter that were converted by Piotr Zielinski.

“It was a good performance at San Siro but we could have won,” Motta said.

“But that’s now in the past, everything else is just people’s opinions and doesn’t count much at this moment in time,” Motta said.

“Something to improve, for sure is penalties. We must always finish with 11 men and not cause penalties. I always say, the next match is the most important.

“I respect everyone’s opinions, mine as a coach is that we have to learn to manage the moments when others do better than us.”

Juventus will be confident of maintaining Motta’s unbeaten league start against Parma, who are without a win in their last seven Serie A matches.

The hosts have done historically well against the Crociati, with Juventus unbeaten in 13 of their last 14 matches against Parma in Serie A (W10 D3).

They have also won eight of the last nine matches played on a Wednesday in the Italian top-flight (L1), scoring 20 goals in the period (2.2 on average per match).

Parma, meanwhile, have not won any of their last 18 Serie A away games (D8 L10) and have only once recorded a longer away run without a win in the competition, between May 2007 and September 2009 (23).