Massimiliano Allegri wants his Juventus squad to “be interested” in the Coppa Italia from tomorrow’s match against Sampdoria onwards.
The Bianconeri will host the Ligurian side at the Allianz Stadium at 20.00 UK time tomorrow evening. The winner of the match will face the winner of Sassuolo-Cagliari in the quarter finals, with the winner of that match will play the last team standing from the Fiorentina-Napoli and Venezia-Atalanta games in the semi-finals.
Speaking to JTV ahead of tomorrow’s match against Sampdoria, Allegri first looked ahead to the game and his expectations.
“We have to try to qualify and go to the quarter-finals because it’s an objective of the season. It will be a difficult game. If approached in a certain way it could be easier, otherwise it will be more complicated.”
He commented on the importance of the Coppa Italia to the Bianconeri.
“It matters a lot because it’s a goal. At the start no one is interested in it, then when you start playing the quarter-finals and semi-finals everyone is interested. We have to be interested from tomorrow.
“Sampdoria have changed their coach so we have to be even more careful. We’re coming from intense close games, we need to make one last effort because then we’ll have five days to prepare for the San Siro match.”
The Italian coach provided an update on the squad’s condition.
“There will be some rotations because we changed six players against Udinese compared to the game against Inter. Tomorrow morning I’ll make a good assessment.
“We’ll have De Ligt disqualified and Chiellini half-back and Bonucci is out, so I’ll have to decide who to play in the middle.”
Allegri spoke about how Sampdoria have changed since September.
“More than changing, we will play a game of pride because when there is a change of coach, even if the one who will replace D’Aversa hasn’t arrived, to whom I wish good luck, because when these things happen it is always a disappointment.
“It’s up to us to play the right game, aggressive and good.”
He touched on the main strengths of the Ligurian side.
“They have good players up front like Quagliarella, Gabbiadini and Caputo who are good and very dangerous players so we will have to be good on the pitch in the defensive phase as a team. As we only have one central defender at our disposal and we will need to help each other out.”
The Italian coach reflected upon the win over Udinese on Saturday.
“We played a first half as a mature team, with patience, trying to score goals and not conceding anything to Udinese. In the second half we risked something, it can be because there are opponents but we need to have a different attitude.”
Allegri looked back at his Coppa Italia victories and revealed which one is dearest to his heart.
“All four I hold in my heart, but I think of the one against Lazio where we won in a slightly lucky way. If I’m not mistaken, Lazio hit the post twice and then we went the other way and Matri scored. That was the first one, I think, but they’re all beautiful to remember.”
Mister Allegri presenta #JuveSamp 🎙
Intervista integrale su @JuventusTV#CoppaItaliaFrecciarossa
— JuventusFC (@juventusfc) January 17, 2022