Max Allegri confirms Dusan Vlahovic has brought ‘characteristics we didn’t have before’ to Juventus, but they ‘fell asleep’ after taking an early lead against Sassuolo.
The Bianconeri had to fight hard to reach the Coppa Italia semi-finals, as after Paulo Dybala’s volley and a Junior Hamed Traore curler, goalkeeper Gianluca Pegolo performed heroics with help also from the woodwork.
Vlahovic proved decisive yet again, this time his solo run and shot taking a big deflection off Ruan Tressoldi to surprise the goalkeeper in the final minutes.
That means Juve will face Fiorentina in the two-legged semi-final, so Vlahovic will return to the Stadio Artemio Franchi just weeks after the January transfer.
Coppa Italia | Juventus 2-1 Sassuolo: Dybala and Vlahovic set up Fiorentina semi
“We are happy with Vlahovic and Zakaria, who are very good players and settled in quickly. Juve had been playing better recently, so these players bring characteristics we didn’t have before,” Allegri told Sport Mediaset.
“We are happy to have Vlahovic, he needs to improve, be cleaner in the way he plays, attack the space more, but that’s the normal process for any player.”
Juve seemed desperate to avoid extra time and Vlahovic’s deflected strike snatched victory at the 88th minute.
“It was practically over, but we were lucky with that late chance. It’s also true that we created many chances in the second half and did well,” continued the coach.
“We rather fell asleep after our opening goal and Sassuolo pushed us further and further back into they equalised. There were already signs of recovery by half-time and then we poured forward.”
Manuel Locatelli and Alvaro Morata came off the bench to further step up the pressure, so Allegri was asked whether the Spaniard can become a Mario Mandzukic-style wide attacker?
“Alvaro always did play with a centre-forward and moved around behind him. He doesn’t always express the best of himself that way, but he came on with the right attitude this evening.
“We had the right spirit in the second half, we were more aggressive, won back the ball quickly with duels and that makes the difference, especially against a side like Sassuolo.”
Juventus are in the Coppa Italia semi-final and fourth in Serie A ahead of this weekend’s showdown with Atalanta. Are they really out of the Scudetto race?
“We are potentially 11 points off Inter, so no, we have to focus on Atalanta. They are a physical side with a lot of quality, they will be fired up by their Coppa Italia elimination, so we need to give it our all on Sunday and see what happens. The other teams are too far away.”