by Matt Walsh
MELBOURNE, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has announced he will be fielding a slightly stronger team for his side's second International Champions Cup (ICC) match, set to be played against Tottenham Hotspur at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Tuesday night.
Fresh off his side's opening ICC match defeat to local side Melbourne Victory on Saturday night, Allegri said Tottenham provides another strong challenge ahead of the Serie A season which begins on Aug. 21.
"Tottenham are a strong team. They had an excellent 2015/16 campaign and will play in the Champions League this year," Allegri told the press on Monday.
"Tottenham will represent a good test for us."
He said Juventus would be fielding a bolstered team than that which lost to Melbourne Victory on penalties, in an effort to get game time into players such as recent signing Miralem Pjanic.
"Pjanic, (Roberto) Pereyra and (Medhi) Benatia will all play tomorrow. We will probably play with a four man defence," Allegri said.
Despite the hot-topic surrounding Juventus being the future of young French star Paul Pogba, Allegri said that transfer news was off the table while he prepared his team for the season ahead.
"I'm not going to talk about transfer news. That's the clubs duty and they're doing very well," Allegri told the press.
"The club is going to talk about the transfer market and they are doing very well so I am happy in that regard."
Meanwhile Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino revealed the side he would be fielding in Tuesday night's match would not be full-strength, but he urged fans to get along to the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday night to see the "future of Tottenham".
"We feel sorry because we cannot bring all our full squad. For the players involved in the Euro it was too difficult to bring them. They are not fit," Pochettino said.
"It's a good opportunity for our supporters to see the future of Tottenham."
He said it was a pre-season tournament, much like the one in Melbourne, in which star striker Harry Kane first made a name for himself.
"Two years ago we went to America with a lot of talent and a young Harry Kane," Pochettino told the press.
"Two years later Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the world."
Despite the young squad set to take on Juventus, the Tottenham boss said it would be "fantastic" if his team could replicate last year's pre-season form, which helped catapult the north Londoners to the top end of the Premier League table.
"In Sydney it was fantastic and to repeat it this year would be fantastic for us," he said.
Juventus and Tottenham clash at the MCG at 8pm (Australian time) on Tuesday night.
