‘Defeat a wake-up call for Juventus’
milan — Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said that his team were sleepy in the second half and that he hopes their 3-1 defeat at AS Roma on Sunday will shake them from their slumber.
Juventus failed to get the point they needed to win Serie A for the sixth time in a row despite taking a first-half lead against the second-placed side. They now need three points from their final two games to clinch the title.
“In the second half, I realised after the first few passes that we were falling asleep, we were gifting them the ball,” Allegri told reporters.
“It will do us good because we have to pick ourselves up again for Wednesday and then the game against Crotone,” said Allegri, whose side meet Lazio in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday.
“We did well in the first half but in the second, we dropped our levels of concentration.”
Juventus are chasing a league, cup and Champions League treble and Allegri has rotated the squad to keep his players fresh. They drew their previous league games against Atalanta and Torino.
“I don’t think the change of players can explain this result,” he said. “We did well in the first half. You just have to remember we were up against the second team in the competition.
“I think we let our guard drop and thought we’d done enough to take the result home. The fact we drew with Atalanta and Torino, then lost here, it shows we’ve lost something in terms of concentration.” Roma’s 26th win of the campaign moved Luciano Spalletti’s men back up to second place, only four points off the lead, to sit one point ahead of Napoli, who beat Torino 5-0. — Reuters/AFP