Massimiliano Allegri called for unity in the Juventus camp following the FIGC court’s decision to hand the club a 15-point penalty.
The Bianconeri have dropped to 10th in the Serie A table following the Federal Court of Appeals’ decision to deduct 15 points from the club due to their usage of falsified capital gains. Various current or former directors have been handed severe bans, including Andrea Agnelli, Fabio Paratici and Maurizio Arrivabene.
Speaking in a press conference, Allegri first sent a message to the Juventus fans following the ruling.
“Tomorrow is an important game, it’s a special match after what happened yesterday. We all have to pull together even more, continue to work with a low profile. We only have to think about the pitch.”
He touched on what changes with this 15-point deduction.
“Nothing, we still have to score points. We have to try to win tomorrow because it would allow us to hook seventh place. Then we have Europa League, Coppa Italia… We have to do the best we can.”
The Italian coach spoke about what’s next for the Bianconeri squad.
“We must not restart, these judicial matters concern the club, there will be an appeal. Given the league table we have to try to win tomorrow to be on 25 points.”
Allegri was asked if Juventus could play more lightly following the decision.
“At Juventus you never play lightly. Next week Pogba and Vlahovic will be back, tomorrow we’ll have Cuadrado available. Before yesterday’s ruling Juventus had 37 points with every chance of playing for a place in the Champions League and maybe the title.
“We must do our duty because the final verdict will be in two months and we must not let ourselves find ourselves in two months with regrets for not having done what we had to do. But we also went through this two months ago with the overturning of the board of directors.
“We come out of these unforeseen events individually strengthened with all the calmness of the case and above all with commitment and determination to do what we have to do, which is to win on the pitch.”
He touched on the condition of Adrien Rabiot and if he’s spoken to Juventus president Maurizio Scanavino.
“Rabiot trained separately yesterday, but he should be ok. This morning I spoke with Scanavino, today at 14:30 the president will also speak to the team and then all we have to do is train and prepare for the match.”
Allegri discussed his plans for the future and if he’d leave the club should they be excluded from European competition.
“I am the Juventus coach and I will remain so, unless they send me away. There are times when we have to be responsible for what we are and what we do, in difficulties we have to be men.
“When things are going well we’re all good, when there are difficulties it’s more challenging and it has to concern everyone.
“In the league, the standings at the moment tell us that we are 12 points behind fourth place. I repeat: tomorrow we have Atalanta, it’s a direct clash and we’ll try to play a good game.”
He revealed what he told his players following the ruling.
“There’s no need to invent a lot of words. The team knows very well what needs to be done, nothing has changed for us. We have to have the inner strength and get back to what the current situation is.”
The Juventus coach was asked if he was surprised by the FIGC court’s decision.
“I was not in a position to talk about the seriousness. The certain thing is that we have to accept the verdict, for us on the sporting side these things should not concern us.
“We have to do our utmost, stay silent and make this challenge based on these 22 points. And I am convinced that the boys will do everything they can to get the maximum and maybe do something extraordinary.”
He spoke about if he felt more responsibility following the bans for various current and former directors.
“At Juventus everyone has their own responsibility depending on their role. I am very sorry on a personal level for Cherubini, Agnelli, Nedved, Arrivabene and Garimberti. Besides the professional aspect there is also the human one that goes beyond that.”
Finally, Allegri was asked if he felt the penalties were more severe because it was Juventus.
“After they told me about the nine points I did the calculation to see how much we were missing for the Champions League, with 15 I did another one. To get there you need something extraordinary.”