Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri expects to see a reaction against Atalanta and insists the Bianconeri played a ‘good first half’ against Chelsea.
The Bianconeri return to the pitch tomorrow at 17.00 UK time. They host fourth-placed Atalanta at the Allianz Stadium with La Dea sitting four points above them in the standings.
“Atalanta have been doing extraordinary work for many years, tomorrow’s game is between two teams in the race for the top four,” Allegri said at a press conference.
Juventus suffered a 4-0 defeat against Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday and Allegri expects a reaction from his players.
“We are sorry for the defeat in London, we are Juventus and it’s never good to make such a bad impression,” the coach continued.
“However, we had won the most important game in Turin.
“The team played a good first half in London, the game was balanced until minute 55. Perhaps we played a better first half than the reverse fixture in Turin, but we melted after their second goal.
“Tomorrow is an important match, but not decisive, we have an important month ahead, the next six games are crucial,” Allegri continued.
“Atalanta are a physical team, they score many goals, but they concede a lot too. We need a good game in attack and defence. We need to be clinical.
“Chiellini and Bernardeschi trained with the team yesterday, Ramsey is not available and De Sciglio returns on Tuesday. We are in good shape, ready to put in a great performance.”
Allegri insisted that he won’t swap to a three-man defence and added that Paulo Dybala could start the match.
The Argentinean forward missed Juventus’ trip to Rome against Lazio last week and came on as a substitute at Stamford Bridge.
“The problem is that we didn’t make good results against the smaller clubs. Tomorrow is an important game, but we need balance and a different approach, we are motivated. The lads were a bit sad after the defeat in London, but yesterday they trained really well,” Allegri added.
“We need to follow a general path to improve the single players and the team. We can’t look at the past, we need to get to March in good shape as a new season will begin at that point.
“It was impossible to think Juventus could win for 20 years in a row, it’s a balanced league, there have been changes and everyone hoped to do better. I share my views with the club and we know where we have to get.”