Juventus won an important battle on Sunday, bouncing back after two consecutive draws to blank Inter Milan 2-0 in the second leg of the Serie A Derby d’Italia this season. The two teams will play once again on Wednesday, this time in the return leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final where Juve go in with a 3-0 aggregate lead.
After the game, manager Massimiliano Allegri commented on their opponent’s performance –
“Inter are a tough side and they will continue to challenge for third place.
“We have moved them further away from the top, but we are already thinking about Wednesday’s Coppa Italia semi-final. I realised in the first leg that our season was changing.”
Allegri also spoke of the importance of the victory –
“The lads did really well and it was important to take home the victory. This was an admirable performance after the intense Tuesday night game with Bayern Munich.
“Inter left us many spaces and we needed to speed the ball up with our passing. At times we managed that, at others we did not, but we didn’t have the strength to keep that going throughout.”
Yet again Allegri used the substitutions to change the course of a game, with Alvaro Morata making an immediate difference. The Spaniard was hacked down in the box to win a penalty, and then slotted home to seal the game.
“Players coming off the bench can be decisive. At the end of the season whether you played more or less, everyone contributed and everyone wins.
“Now we have one less obstacle on our path to the Scudetto, we remain top of the table and there are 11 left. The more we win, the less we have left to do.”
For the umpteenth time this season Allegri was also asked if he would be taking up the manager’s role at Chelsea, despite it looking almost certain that former Juve manager Antonio Conte will be stepping in there.
“I speak to Beppe Marotta and Fabio Paratici every day. We have a great rapport. I am happy at Juventus and we’ll see about the future at the right time.
“Someone in the media wanted to send me away when we were losing, so I smile because I know that’s the name of the game. We are still fighting and want to go all the way.”
