Massimiliano Allegri looked irritable during his post-match press conference and repeatedly said that Juventus’ season has not been disastrous: ‘That’s intellectual dishonesty.’
The Bianconeri suffered a 3-0 loss against Villarreal in Turin in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16. The Serie A giants have been eliminated in the last 16 of the competition for the third successive season.
During his post-match interview with Amazon Prime Video, Allegri said that he’d not change the team’s approach in the game. Juventus did have a few good opportunities in the first half, but collapsed in the second, conceding three goals in the last 12 minutes. The Tuscan tactician looked very upset during his post-match meetings with the media, including his press conference at the end of the match, attended by Football Italia.
When asked how to save Juventus season and whether their season must be considered disastrous, he replied: “If you have intellectual dishonesty, you read it in a way, but the reality is different. Do you understand?
“I knew that people would talk about a failure in case of elimination, but that’s intellectual dishonesty. I know the value of team. We’ve been using the same players for two months, we are in the race for the top four and the Coppa Italia. I have nothing to reproach the guys. They are doing extraordinary things.
“The season is ongoing, we have targets to reach. We are disappointed and we’ll make our assessments to improve the team. We do that every year. We also need to be realists. There are ten teams in Europe superior to Juventus. It’s no shame, it’s a fact.
“I agree that we had to qualify today, but it was not easy. It’s useless to talk now, we must remain quiet, focus on the league and the Coppa Italia to see if we can take a trophy at home.”