ALLEGRI SEES MONACO THREAT
Juventus coach believes Jardim’s men are ‘similar’ to Atalanta
JUVENTUS coach Massimiliano Allegri underlined the potential threat from Champions League semi-final opponents Monaco after being held to a 2-2 Serie A draw at “similar” Atalanta on Friday.
Juve travelled to Bergamo well aware of the ensuing danger from Atalanta, who took three points from Napoli, Roma and Inter Milan at their Atleti Azzurri d’Italia stadium earlier this season.
Minutes after Dani Alves thought he had snatched a valuable away win with a great, late diving header to hand Juve a 2-1 lead, Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler bundled past Gianluigi Buffon at the second attempt to snatch a deserved share of the spoils.
Juventus face Monaco in the Principality on Wednesday, and Allegri believes Leonardo Jardim’s men are “similar ” to Atalanta.
“A win tonight would have given us a fair boost in the championship stakes,” Allegri told Mediaset. “But now, we have to focus on Wednesday’s match.
“Monaco are a side that are similar to Atalanta, so we’ll have to be good.”
On Friday’s performance, the French Ligue 1 side can have cause for optimism.
Gian Piero Gasperini’s men were enterprising, determined and, on two key occasions, found a way past the usually astute Juve defence to find a way past Buffon.
“In the second half we suffered from two counter-attacks that were created by our mistakes, and that means the game was going from end to end,” added Allegri.
“We need to be mindful of those mistakes. With a minute and a half to play we were leading. A team like Juve shouldn’t be conceding a goal a minute from the end.”
Juventus sealed their Champions League semi-final place with a 3-0 aggregate win over Barcelona and, if they get past Monaco over two legs, they can dream of an unprecedented club treble of trophies.
But Allegri reiterated that nothing has been won yet.
“It’s proof that the championship is never really over,” he said. “We’ve got four games left, and it will go right to the end. “We’re on 84 points, and can reach 96.”
But Allegri, who steered Juventus to the 2015 Champions League final, and a 3-1 defeat to Barcelona, in his first year in charge of the Turin giants, said they will learn from those lessons for Wednesday.
“We knew playing here in Bergamo is never an easy affair, and even less so this year. But we’ll learn from our mistakes and be mindful for Wednesday’s match.” AFP