Juventus eked out a 1-0 win over relegation-battling Hellas Verona on Saturday night in what was a scrappy home performance. Massimiliano Allegri has delivered his verdict on his side’s underwhelming showing against below-par rivals, singling out three key details.
After failing to land a shot on target in the first half, Juventus opened the scoring ten minutes into the second half. Halftime substitute Fabio Miretti combined well with Manuel Locatelli, who set up Moise Kean on a silver platter for the Bianconeri’s winner.
However, Kean’s decider was pretty much everything Juventus put on display last night as Verona stood their ground at the back, frustrating their more esteemed hosts with some stubborn defending. But winning ‘ugly’ has been Allegri’s hallmark in Turin as the Italian tactician took to the press to share his view of the match.
In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Allegri defended his team’s uneventful display in front of a reverberating atmosphere at the Allianz Stadium. He pointed out three crucial factors in an effort to explain Juve’s inability to entertain the Bianconeri faithful presented at the stadium.
“The difficulties prevented us from playing a good match, but these are three fundamental points,” Allegri said in the aftermath, as relayed by Gazzetta dello Sport.
“The match after the international break is always an odd one, the lads did well to take the points home. The second half was better than the first,” he continued.
“Verona make you play badly, they make you run, but instead we started moving the ball after the first 20 minutes.“
To Allegri’s defense, though, he opted for an understrength line-up. Juventus headline performers, including Angel Di Maria, Dusan Vlahovic, and Filip Kostic, started on the bench, making it difficult for a relatively inexperienced to cope with Verona’s stern defensive approach.
On top of that, the international break stopped Juventus in their tracks after winning back-to-back league matches, including a massive 1-0 triumph at arch-rivals Inter on their last top-flight travel. All that had a negative influence on their disappointing performance on Saturday.
The Juventus boss was spotted leaving the field minutes before the final whistle. Asked to explain his actions, Allegri replied: “In the last ten minutes we could have ended the match with a second goal.“
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