Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri has hit out Italy’s negative mindset with domestic football: “Everyone says Italian football sucks.”
The Bianconeri’s 3-2 win over Roma in Week 6 was shrouded in controversy for the decisions of referee Gianluca Rocchi, in awarding two close-call penalties to Juve, whilst allowing their winning goal in spite of a contentious offside.
For the winning team’s Coach, the fallout from the match is more a reflection of society than the importance of what happened.
Juventus Coach Massimiliano Allegri has hit out Italy’s negative mindset with domestic football: “Everyone says Italian football sucks.”
The Bianconeri’s 3-2 win over Roma in Week 6 was shrouded in controversy for the decisions of referee Gianluca Rocchi, in awarding two close-call penalties to Juve, whilst allowing their winning goal in spite of a contentious offside.
For the winning team’s Coach, the fallout from the match is more a reflection of society than the importance of what happened.
“The thing that has done the most harm to Italian football is that they have spoken about the episodes and not about the game,” Allegri has told the Corriere della Sera today.
“At a technical aspect it was good, intense, beautiful to watch. Upon this, silence. In Italy the increased emphasis is on the not so good things.
“Everybody says ‘Italian football sucks’, but nobody does anything because it is the best. Everyone says ‘Italian referees are the worst’, then we find them refereeing the World Cup Final.
“The Italian teams concede dubious penalties abroad and they are silent. From this, nothing happens.
“From the match against Roma there remains three points. The win, never simple, in a direct confrontation.
“The decisions from Rocchi were elevated to the highest level because it was Juve-Roma. The same in a lot of low-to-medium level games no-one cares anything about.
“What has been lost is the good performance of Juventus against Roma, a great team who have in Totti an extraordinary player.
“Are Juventus the public’s enemy? There are 50m fans, Juve have 12, the rest are Milan, Inter, Roma and so on. Everyone is against Juve. Now I realise that.”