Max Allegri insists Juventus ‘are having a good season’ after their defeat to Lazio, keeping his eye on the prize. ‘We will get a Champions League place, even if it’s on the last day.’
Memorable Lazio goals against Juventus
The Bianconeri are now clearly in crisis, managing just seven points in nine Serie A rounds and failing to even find the net in their last two.
“The statistics say that we are not doing well. Fortunately, we have a big advantage over fifth place,” Allegri told DAZN.
“We must and we will achieve our target of Champions League qualification, even if it goes down to the final day of the season.
“This is not an easy moment, we must overcome it and turn things around.”
The coach had bowed to pressure on his 500th Serie A match by scrapping his usual 3-5-2 formation to test out the 4-3-3, but it did not deliver results.
Federico Chiesa had the only two real scoring opportunities just before half-time, then they seemed almost content with a point until the defence was caught napping by the Matteo Guendouzi ball to the back post for a winning Adam Marusic header.
“We didn’t control the ball well in the final minutes, but we can’t do anything about it now. I can’t reproach the lads for anything.
“We did not just suddenly become useless all of a sudden. We let them put in a cross and dealt with that situation badly, but we have this Coppa Italia game coming up and want to reboot.”
Juventus will face Igor Tudor’s Lazio again on Tuesday evening in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final.
“Lazio had a high press in the first half-hour, then we created a few chances, but needed to be more determined. You can’t concede a goal 10 minutes from time.”
If Milan win against Fiorentina this evening, they can go six points clear of Juventus.
“We dropped points along the way, but this remains an extraordinary group of players,” insisted Allegri.
“We must be proud of this performance and things will change on Tuesday. It’s difficult in football, there are moments that go in your favour or against you. We just have to keep faith in what we are doing and keep faith in these players, because they are having a good season.
“At the moment, we are simply not getting the results, but the team is doing what it ought to do. We will emerge from this moment.”
Allegri was asked if he had a message to send the Juventus supporters.
“They should continue supporting us, we never lacked effort. These moments happen, we have the strength to get out of it.”
