Max Allegri confirms Juventus talent Samuel Iling-Junior isn’t going to the Under-20 World Cup for England, urges Dusan Vlahovic to ‘ignore’ racist abuse from Atalanta fans and explains his touchline row with Paul Pogba.
The Bianconeri have leapfrogged Lazio to go two points clear in second place with this 2-0 victory in Bergamo, sealed by 19-year-old Samuel Iling-Junior on his full Serie A debut and a last-gasp Dusan Vlahovic counter-attack.
Atalanta dominated the game for long periods and rattled the woodwork twice, but were not clinical enough in their finishing.
“Unfortunately, those moments are ugly and must be battled, but also without putting too much weight on them,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia after the racist chants aimed at Vlahovic from Atalanta ultras.
“The lads worked really hard today, we won a difficult match, our first away since March and it was against a strong Atalanta side.”
Iling-Junior had his first start and got his debut goal for the club, just hours after Allegri confirmed the England talent will not be released for the Under-20 World Cup.
“Iling is staying with us during the Under-20 World Cup. Like all young players, he has ups and downs. He returned from injury, had a sore ankle and seemed like his less talented cousin, but is now back in shape and doing very well.
“The first half started well, then we began to slow the moves down, misplace a few passes and that gave Atalanta courage. We pushed more in the second half and forced them out of position.
“It was also the hottest day of the year and that took a lot out of both teams. We should’ve scored the second goal earlier and been sharper.”
There was a touchline row in the closing minutes between Allegri and substitute Paul Pogba, with the coach particularly furious and kicking water bottles away.
“With Paul’s quality and characteristics, he cannot lose the ball in those situations. He told me to relax, but there’s no relaxing, we needed to keep the ball at that moment.”
Vlahovic scored the last-gasp goal and reacted only briefly with a finger to his lips towards the ultras who had been aiming racist chants at him for at least 10 minutes.
He was booked, just as Inter striker Romelu Lukaku was booked for doing the same to Juventus fans who hurled racist insults at him in the Coppa Italia semi-final.
Lukaku was pardoned rather than the card being revoked, so should the same treatment be given to Vlahovic or should the rule itself change?
“That is not for me to say, there are people who are in charge of these things. I can only say Dusan came on, did very well, but these racist chants have to be shut down. We also as players and coaches must try to ignore them. I know it’s not easy, but we have to.”
The Europa League semi-final is on Thursday against serial winners Sevilla.
“Sevilla are a strong side with a lot of experience who are accustomed to this sort of situation, so we need to be at our best.”