Max Allegri believes there’s more pressure on Napoli to win the league than Juventus because “it’s the only objective they have”.
The Bianconeri are six points clear at the top of Serie A, and they face Maurizio Sarri’s side on Sunday night in Turin.
“Juventus have 84 points right now, and in another season that would be close to winning the league,” Allegri pointed out in his Press conference ahead of the Crotone match.
Max Allegri believes there’s more pressure on Napoli to win the league than Juventus because “it’s the only objective they have”.
The Bianconeri are six points clear at the top of Serie A, and they face Maurizio Sarri’s side on Sunday night in Turin.
“Juventus have 84 points right now, and in another season that would be close to winning the league,” Allegri pointed out in his Press conference ahead of the Crotone match.
“It’s not the case now. Napoli have the chance to break their record of 87 points and, as Sarri said last time, to win the league.
“They’re still there fighting for the title and they have every chance. It’s normal that, as it’s the only objective they have, there’s more pressure on them but we have to be ready.
“Meanwhile, before Napoli, there’s Crotone, as I’ve said.
“There are no calculations to be made, there are six games to go and we need four wins, mathematically.
“Otherwise we’ll see what happens, but we have a difficult fixture list, as do Napoli, so everything is still in play.
“We need to go slowly, take it one step at a time. Tomorrow we have to go and win against a good Crotone team, to stay six points clear with five games until the end.
“Then we’ll get ready for the beautiful night of football that Sunday will be.”
Allegri also gave an update on his team selection for tomorrow’s game.
“[Andrea] Barzagli is available because he was on the bench the other day, [Miralem] Pjanic definitely isn’t and then the others are more or less available.
“I need to evaluate [Federico] Bernardeschi today to decide whether to bring him back in or not.
“There will be some changes, but I don’t know because I need to evaluate the condition of the squad. What’s certain is we need the right energy to go and win at Crotone.
“Tomorrow [Wojciech] Szczesny will play. As far as Gigi [Buffon] goes, that evening in Madrid was good for him because it gave him the adrenaline rush he needed.
“Champions live on that adrenaline, great evenings; moments of confusion, mess and tension. If everything was all calm and flat, everyone would fall asleep.
“I don’t know if I’ll play [Rodrigo] Bentancur tomorrow [in place of Pjanic], I might play [Claudio] Marchisio.
“I’ll see who is ready and who isn’t, because [Juan] Cuadrado is coming off a lot of games, and after a spell on the sidelines it’s normal that could cause him to lose a bit of his sharpness.
“We’re all really good mentally though and that’s the important thing, because at this stage of the season the mental side counts for a lot.”
Sami Khedira was whistled against Milan, but has been in fine form ever since…
“Khedira is a player of international class,” Allegri declared.
“Maybe a lot of people haven’t noticed that, but it’s never too late. Wherever he’s been, with all the Coaches he’s had, he’s always played. There’s a reason for that.
“He had five years at Real Madrid, then an injury stopped him for two-and-a-half years. Fortunately he came to Juventus, and it was an excellent signing by Juventus.
“The quality of Khedira is not up for discussion.”
Napoli could be allowed away fans in Turin on Sunday, albeit not Neapolitans from Campania, is that a good sign?
“I don’t know anything about that. In any case it must be an evening of sport, where two contenders for the title will face off.
“So it’ll definitely be a good game of football, after that I don’t know…
“Italy needs to reach a level of maturity where fans can attend all of their team’s away matches.”