Massimiliano Allegri believes Federico Chiesa played his best game for Juventus against Lazio today and reveals the Old Lady’s target is to earn 76 points this season: ‘It should be enough for the top four.’
Juventus secured a convincing 3-1 win over Lazio on Saturday seeing both Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa getting their names on the scoresheet.
The understanding between the Juventus’ strikers is increasing and Allegri was asked by DAZN to comment on this.
“Federico plays a little bit closer [to Vlahovic] and is good at creating the best situations for him.
“I think today Chiesa played the best game since he joined Juventus in terms of technique, attention and intensity. He is working and improving.”
Allegri was happy with everyone’s performance and didn’t hide his satisfaction.
“I am happy with how we played, the victory and the behaviour of those who were involved,” he said.
“The atmosphere was great, the fans pushed and supported us even when Lazio had the ball, so I am happy. We must keep our feet on the ground. Our target is to finish in the top four, so now we are above expectations.
“We were aware of Lazio’s quality and it would have been dangerous for us to leave space. The lads were aggressive since the start and we remained united with the ball possession. We risked nothing, perhaps in two or three moments, but overall we worked well.”
The Old Lady have now collected 10 points in four games, but Allegri doesn’t see his team as title contenders.
“No, because we must realise that it will be very difficult to finish in the top four this season,” he claimed.
“There is great competition. Napoli, Inter and Milan are above the others, we will do our best to remain there until December and then try to improve. Our target is to earn 76 points to go to the Champions League. I think it will be enough, but we’ll see. Not playing in the Champions League this season is affecting us technically and economically, being able to qualify will be vital.”
DAZN pundits noted that Manuel Locatelli and Fabio Miretti are steadily improving. Both put in convincing displays during the international break, with Italy and Italy U21 respectively.
“Locatelli’s self-confidence has improved also thanks to the good performance against Ukraine. Miretti is doing well too, he did well today,” admitted Allegri.
Lastly, the coach was asked for one more comment on the Leonardo Bonucci saga which he had labelled a ‘soap opera’ during a pre-match press conference on Friday. This time, he compared it to a specific show, Beautiful.
“It was a soap opera that lasted a lifetime, it had been ongoing since I was a kid. I think it was on at 2 p.m. on TV,” jokingly concluded Allegri.
I hope they will stop talking about selling Vlahovic and Chiesa. They are superb together and they are young, not like Lukaku and Morata.