Max Allegri marked his 400th Juventus match with a 4-0 Coppa Italia win over Frosinone, assuring he has ‘great passion and fun’ even in this second rather different spell in Turin.
The Bianconeri made short work of Frosinone, taking a 2-0 lead before half-time and then Arkadiusz Milik completing his hat-trick straight after the restart.
Kenan Yildiz added the fourth on the hour mark with an acrobatic volley on Weston McKennie’s cross to set up a two-legged semi-final against Lazio.
It was not to be taken for granted, considering Frosinone had eliminated Napoli 4-0 in the Round of 16 at the Stadio Maradona last month.
This is also a great way for Allegri to celebrate the 400th game on the Juventus bench in two different spells and before kick-off director of sport Cristiano Giuntoli said he could reach 600 or 700 in future.
“I thank the lads for a great performance, they enjoyed themselves and entertained the crowd too. The director has too much faith in me! We have to focus on the present and the immediate future,” the coach told Mediaset.
“Now there’s a wonderful semi-final against Lazio coming up in April, but before that we need to keep our focus on Serie A.”
The other semi-final will be between Atalanta and Fiorentina, so while the dates have not been finalised, they are expected have the first leg around April 3 and the second around April 24.
“I have great passion for my job, I have great fun and had the opportunity to train real champions at Juventus from 2010 to 2019. I returned and it was a different approach, but still just as enjoyable, so these are players with less experience, but a lot of talent, so it’s good to help them adapt.
“Just look at Bremer, who is a different player now to what he was when he first arrived. It takes a while at Juventus to realise quite where you are and what is needed from you. I see them growing, these are good lads and that is the most important thing for me.”
While Milik and Yildiz stole the headlines, USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie provided two assists this evening.
“McKennie left Juventus last season, did not have a great season at Leeds on loan, but returned eager to prove himself. We must all celebrate for this victory, but then from tomorrow shelve it and focus on the next test against a Sassuolo side that scored four goals against us last time.”
Juve rarely score more than once per game in Serie A, yet in the Coppa Italia beat Salernitana 6-1 and now Frosinone 4-0.
“The fact we managed to keep a clean sheet was good, as recently we had been conceding a bit too easily. We must realise the various moments of the match, when to push hard and when to control, and the team has improved in that sense.
“Winning games is always complicated, even when they look easy in hindsight, and we must continue improving in many areas. We were a bit too tense in the first half and struggled playing out from the back, so need to work on that.”
Allegri was asked if he and Juve are trying to sign a reinforcement in midfield during the January transfer window, or if they will again try to promote someone from the NextGen squad.
“The directors are looking around to see if there is the possibility of getting a player who can fit into this group. If not, then I am very happy with the current squad. The club knows very well what ought to be done, but if you fiddle with a machine that is working well, that can cause problems.
“I love those who can play football. There are many of those in the Juventus academy and that is good for the club. They don’t play because they are young, they play because they are talented.”
#CoppaItaliaFrecciarossa | #Juventus, #Allegri: "Ringrazio i ragazzi per stasera. Si sono divertiti e hanno divertito" https://t.co/BDMkK8EdnD
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) January 11, 2024