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It looks like having nearly a week in between games hasn\u2019t prevented Luciano Spalletti from having to sweat out an injury to one of his most important players ahead of Saturday night\u2019s Derby d\u2019Italia at the San Siro.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
According to Sky Sport Italia<\/a> and IlBianconero<\/a> amongst others, Juventus midfielder Khephren Thuram is a doubt to face brother Marcus and his Serie A-leading Inter Milan teammates due to a bone bruise he picked up in training this week. Considering news of this broke on Friday and Juventus will take the field at San Siro on Saturday night, this means Thuram is a \u201cserious doubt,\u201d according to Sky Italia\u2019s Gianluca Di Marzio, and will leave Spalletti without one of the players who has played the most minutes for the Tuscan manager over the last couple of months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sky Italia believes that the younger Thuram will indeed miss the latest meeting with his older brother, forcing Spalletti into a change ahead of both the Derby d\u2019Italia and potentially the first leg of the Champions League play-off round tie against Galatasaray three days later on Tuesday. Di Marzio predicts that if Thuram can\u2019t play against Inter on Saturday then it will be the much-maligned Teun Koopmeiners coming into the starting lineup to play alongside Manuel Locatelli in Spalletti\u2019s 4-2-3-1 formation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thuram will be re-evaluated on Saturday morning prior to Juve\u2019s departure for Milan, according to reports, with a final decision coming following his scans at J Medical.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n So that\u2019s not something you want to see happen a little more than 24 hours before your biggest game of the season to date. On top of the simple Thuram Brothers Derby narrative suddenly not being available to talk about, the simple fact that Juventus\u2019 midfield certainly takes on a different dynamic when Thuram is on form \u2014 something that has been rather hit or miss in recent weeks \u2014 as compared to that of Koopmeiners playing alongside Locatelli is going to now be even more noticeable against an Inter midfield that is arguably the best in Serie A.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Thuram was one of Juventus\u2019 four goal scorers in September\u2019s wild 4-3 win over Inter at the Allianz Stadium, with his 82nd-minute header pulling the Bianconeri even ahead of Vasilije Ad\u017ei\u0107\u2018s thunderbolt of a game-winning goal in the first minute of stoppage time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n