Max Allegri compares Juventus to ‘sailors in stormy seas’ and explains his tactical decisions to neutralise Chelsea and hit them on the break in a 1-0 Champions League victory.
It was Federico Chiesa who got the winning goal 11 seconds after the restart, before Chelsea had managed to get a single touch.
For all of their possession, the reigning Champions League holders didn’t have a shot on target, Romelu Lukaku and Kai Havertz turning over.
Champions League | Juventus 1-0 Chelsea: Chiesa sings the Blues
“Usually, when sailors are in stormy seas, they can always find the way out. That’s what we did tonight with a great game against the Champions of Europe,” Allegri told Amazon Prime Italia.
“We can play better than this in purely technical terms, but we frankly didn’t allow many real clear-cut chances and we wasted a couple of dangerous counter-attacks too.
“After two games, six points and zero goals conceded, that’s a good step towards qualification for the Round of 16.”
The Bianconeri went into this showdown with only one striker available, Moise Kean, yet the coach opted to bench him in favour of Federico Bernardeschi as a False 9, flanked by Juan Cuadrado and Chiesa.
“I thought we could have an advantage by playing three upfront, then I moved Chiesa to centre-forward with Bernardeschi behind and it went better.”
There were also improvements in the middle of the park, where Manuel Locatelli and Rodrigo Bentancur are starting to get to know each other.
“Bentancur struggles by himself, today Locatelli did better in blocking off Lukaku. Adrien Rabiot did not start well, but he improved as the game went on.”
Chelsea had 66 per cent possession, but it’s also fair to say that was the approach Allegri wanted.
“Juventus must know how to win games like this, when you have to suffer and fight for the result. That’s what the lads did this evening.
“With all due respect to the Champions of Europe, Wojciech Szczesny didn’t have a real save to make.”