Massimiliano Allegri was interviewed by Dazn at the end of the match against Roma. His words:
Upon leaving the field we saw her throw her jacket in anger. With what?
“We risked losing a match that we hadn’t managed to win, especially at the beginning of the second half, where we had several favorable situations. Then it’s normal that Roma came back, then we had another couple of opportunities ourselves Then in the last two minutes we had incredible ball management, we risked losing it at the end when we still maintained the head-to-head advantage with a draw and were unable to win it.”
You have had a great first round, you are in the Italian Cup finals. Do you have any regrets about this second round?
“There is regret, I was also reflecting on this period where we only won twice, it’s normal that we could have done better. But sometimes football is beastly, because there are periods in which things go well for you and periods in which they fit in the opposite way. Certainly after the defeat in Milan and the badly lost match at home against Udinese, we collapsed a little there. And when you lose sight of the main objective, even if we knew that the ‘Inter were clearly stronger, and you have a 12 point advantage over your pursuers, even 14, you tend to slow down a little. Then in that period we started with Milik’s dismissal against Empoli, followed by Vlahovic’s, not Kean. he was fine, Chiesa wasn’t well, at a certain point Rabiot stopped; Adrien is playing some extraordinary games in this period, but there was a period in which he wasn’t doing well; Mckennie’s shoulder came out some unfavorable situations. From a positive job, there was that in those moments, when you really risk capitulating, because afterwards you hurry, especially when you are at Juventus with everyone coming at you, the boys were good at staying focused, one little step at a time. At the moment we have a good advantage and we have the chance to close it out with Salernitana on Saturday. There is the regret that we could certainly have done better, but several things got stuck and maybe we weren’t able to get out of it a little due to a lack of players. Then this year the three midfielders, Locatelli, Rabiot and Mckennie played a lot. Then at a certain point they were missing, especially McKennie and Rabiot due to injuries, then Rabiot missed several games compared to last year, Miretti played some good games, we missed Fagioli who is a talented boy, Paul himself. In the end they are two quality players who could certainly give us a hand.”
But when De Rossi says that Juve has a strong team, is he making the right summary or is something missing?
“But no, the club will do this at the end of the season, the important thing now is to concentrate on Sunday’s match, because it really is match ball. Then we have the Italian Cup final with Atalanta. Then as regards the next year, the club will evaluate the squad, it is normal that there is an excellent Juventus base, also due to the characteristics of the individual players. We had Chiesa on and off. Then the two… Paul even if he wasn’t at 100 %, half an hour of Pogba in the matches just his presence scared the opponents. We missed this, as did Niccolò Fagioli, especially as changes and as important alternatives, without taking anything away from the others. At the moment, however, we are very close to the Champions League it was the main objective and we have this beautiful Italian Cup final to play”
Does Juve get into trouble when they lose their references and balance in midfield or is it just a mental issue?
“I can only say one thing, I learned as a child that the midfield is what makes the team work, because if it plays well, the attackers work well, if it plays badly the defenders work worse, because they are certainly less protected. Our midfielders have we had a great championship. I repeat we played with Locatelli, Rabiot, Mckennie and Miretti until January 28th, because we never had the other two. One quality of this team is that they never held back and we worked a lot on them our limits.”
Vlahovic-Chiesa took turns making the difference
“It was a congenial match for Chiesa because Roma left spaces. We had to change the game more often. We had the width and we had the possibility of doing damage. We started well in this regard, then we became stubborn but also made changes, the winger on one side , winger on the other, when it was enough to just raise our head and put the ball on the opposite side and we certainly created favorable situations.”
Do you think the club has already made a decision on its future or will it take it after the Italian Cup final?
“I don’t know, you have to ask the club. I’m focused on Salernitana and I hope to return to Rome for the Cup final with the Champions League already won. Let’s smile about this situation: the news about Allegri’s future is more attractive than what the team will do Juventus in the next 15 days. Now there are 10-15 days left and we will know. I replied in a smiling and joking way because it’s normal like that no one asks me anything.”
He will return to Livorno this summer to make a gabion.
“Not the gabion because I can’t take it anymore.”
