Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri opened up about his future in Turin, the four-year ban handed to Paul Pogba and the recent provocations of Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.
The Bianconeri are gearing up for one of the tensest clashes on their calendar, facing bitter rivals Napoli in a fiery Serie A clash on Sunday evening. In their first meeting of the season, Allegri’s side edged out a 1-0 win after a goal from Federico Gatti.
In recent days, Napoli president De Laurentiis has taken aim at Juventus, instructing his club’s lawyers to work on an appeal to FIFA to block the Old Lady from qualifying for the upcoming Club World Cup, a tournament that brings millions in revenues to participating teams.
Speaking in a press conference via TMW, Allegri first discussed the importance of Juventus’ clash with Napoli.
“It is certainly a very difficult match, because it is strange to see Napoli in this position in the table. For them, matches are never over and it will take a great performance to win.”
He provided an update on the state of his squad.
“Federico did a day of individual training and will be available tomorrow. Danilo will also be there, even if he only did one training session.
“Kean will certainly be there next week, McKennie will do everything he can to be there next week, let’s see about Rabiot. Perin should also return next week.”
The Bianconeri coach was asked if Danilo would be suitable to play in the midfield.
“No because we have many midfielders available, like Alcaraz, Miretti, Nonge. Danilo only did one training session. It makes no sense to risk someone who has been out of action for 15 days.
“The difficult period begins tomorrow, we have many direct clashes and the best period with the semi-finals of the cup and we still don’t have the points for the Champions League.”
Allegri was also asked if the recent win over Frosinone was a turning point for Juventus.
“A difficult period, it wasn’t a good February for us, we only won against Frosinone. March starts tomorrow and we hope it will be better, against Frosinone it was a difficult match, two avoidable goals, but this is something that needs to be put right as team, we need to do better as a team, otherwise we’ll come away with broken bones in Napoli.”
The coach was posed the idea of spreading his salary with the Bianconeri.
“I haven’t talked about my future with the club, this must be clear to everyone. I have a year left on my contract and we still have some objectives to achieve. When the directors have decided what the future of Juventus will be, they will let me know.”
He commented on the recent provocations of De Laurentiis.
“I absolutely won’t comment on De Laurentiis’ words. We don’t yet know if we will participate in the Champions League because we have to reach 70 points, we are 13 points short, four wins and one draw to go.
“We don’t know if we will participate in the Club World Cup because it depends on the results of others.”
He touched on the fight for second place.
“We will do everything we can to finish second, because it would be an excellent result and we would improve on last year’s finish. The team have changed, many young people have played, talking now about what the future will be makes no sense.
“We need to live tomorrow’s present against Napoli and then next week against Atalanta. We must get to the Champions League because of added technical and above all economic value.”
Allegri spoke about the changes at Napoli with Francesco Calzona and the regrets of last year.
“Regardless of last year, Juve haven’t won at Napoli for five years, it would be nice to get a result but it won’t be easy.
“Osimhen has brought some certainties back, we know his qualities but like everyone else. We’ll have to play a careful game and try to play with the ball in the opponent’s half of the pitch.
“Calzona? I don’t know him personally, against Barcelona and Sassuolo he had an excellent match, with many years with Sarri, the characteristics will be similar more or less.”
He discussed the Pogba ban.
“I wrote a message to Paul about what happened. On a human level, I’m very sorry. Football loses an extraordinary player, because players like that are difficult to find.”
Finally, Allegri spoke about Juventus’ approach against Napoli.
“It was a complex match like the ones that will follow against Atalanta and Genoa. We must try to limit them and try to be proactive with the ball. The team are well, they worked well and they want to play a great match tomorrow.”