Max Allegri explains why he lost his temper on the touchline as Juventus beat a Milan side down to 10 men and insists they are ‘aiming for Champions League qualification.’
The Bianconeri made hard work of breaking down 10-man Milan at San Siro, given the advantage after Malick Thiaw saw red in the first half for hauling down Moise Kean.
It took a massive deflection off the Manuel Locatelli strike from distance to give them the lead in what was the first Juve shot on target.
“Juventus played well defensively, but football is about moments and Kean did well on that move,” Allegri told DAZN.
“Once we were against 10 men, we did not start the second half well. In the final minutes, we lacked patience and kept allowing Milan counter-attacks. It is true we had an extra man, but the pace of Rafael Leao can neutralise that gap.
“It had been a long time since we had beaten Milan, so I can only thank my players.”
Antonio Mirante kept the scoreline down in stoppages, but Allegri was still so enraged that he took off his jacket and tie, then kicked water bottles and other objects as he stormed around.
“It is just about the way you pass it around. Playing against 10 men, you have to use the pitch like an airport and not let them get anywhere near the ball, you do not allow them to counter like that.
“When you have the extra man, you do not make those passes in tight channels, you do not dribble, do not take men on. You don’t force the moves, you go for the guaranteed ones.
“These are things we need to work on, as we have some lads without much experience and playing at San Siro was a big test for them.”
Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah combined to keep Leao relatively under control down that flank.
“Every now and then, Leao managed to escape them too and Gatti had to do well covering for them, then Bremer later on. I don’t think we allowed Milan a shot on goal and then the lads did well to get this victory.
“I am glad that Dean Huijsen made his debut, he was born in 2005, but never made things too difficult, never caused problems for his teammates and his reading of the game was wonderful.”
Allegri continues to insist that Juve are aiming for the top four and not for the Scudetto, despite the advantage of not having European commitments.
“If we are just content with the victory, then we will get nowhere. We need to build on this and improve where we are getting these things wrong.
“Inter, Milan and Napoli are the favourites for the Scudetto, we are aiming for the Champions League qualification. We have to take it one step at a time, it’s going to clam up pretty soon with Atalanta, Lazio and Roma putting together a run of results.”
Lord Hexagon is still refusing that his serial cheating club are favourites because they cheated their way out of Europe.