Massimiliano Allegri assures Juventus are focused on tomorrow’s Chievo game, pointing out “Barcelona is not a final”.
The Bianconeri face the Blaugrana in the Champions League on Tuesday, and the Coach has already confirmed there will be changes for tomorrow’s game.
“It’s not complete rotation,” Allegri clarified in his pre-match Press conference.
“That’s because tomorrow is the most important game, we have to take three points tomorrow. We’ll think about Barcelona after tomorrow.
Massimiliano Allegri assures Juventus are focused on tomorrow’s Chievo game, pointing out “Barcelona is not a final”.
The Bianconeri face the Blaugrana in the Champions League on Tuesday, and the Coach has already confirmed there will be changes for tomorrow’s game.
“It’s not complete rotation,” Allegri clarified in his pre-match Press conference.
“That’s because tomorrow is the most important game, we have to take three points tomorrow. We’ll think about Barcelona after tomorrow.
“Among other things, Barcelona isn’t a final, it’s not a semi-final, nor a quarter-final, nor a Last 16 tie.
“It’s a game which is one of six we have to play in the group, a group where I think the objective is to get through first of all.
“We’ve seen that the first year we finished second [behind Atletico Madrid] and we reached the final, the third year we finished first and reached the final, so getting first or second…
“It can give you some advantage in the draw, because maybe you can get a second-place side which is somewhat weaker, but it’s also true that, as happened this year, there are those who are first among the weakest, and there are groups which are a lot easier going.
“So we just have to focus on our goal of getting through, for which we need a few points. I think that nine points will be enough to go through.”
Stephan Lichtsteiner has been left out of the squad for the Champions League, for the second season in a row…
“Stephan was left out but I’m very sorry because he’s an important player, he’ll be an important player for the league and then there’s the second Champions League list in January.
“I had to make technical choices, especially since [Claudio] Marchisio isn’t at his best, so I was a midfielder down…
“It was a technical choice, and I’m very sorry to make it, because it’s always really hard to leave players off the Champions League list.”
Allegri has spoken about moving the transfer window forward, something the English Premier League announced yesterday it will do next year.
“I hope they do it here,” the Juve coach said.
“It wouldn’t just be good news for me, but for everyone. Then we’ll have to evaluate whether the other window gets moved back to November like in the past, if you move it forward because the summer window ends in July or the start of August.
“Or you could leave it in January but have a much shorter window, otherwise you can get a player on February 1 and when, like this year, the season finishes on May 20 there’s no time for him to adjust and get to know his new teammates.
“Did Juventus improve in this window? Theorising doesn’t matter, we’ll be able to tell if at the end of the season the team has done well.
“When I talk about doing well it means getting to March being able to fight for every competition, like every year, though this year we’ll play for the Coppa Italia before because the quarter-finals are in December.
“Are we short in midfield? Absolutely not, because there are always unexpected things throughout the year and you have to manage those.
“If a player misses one or two games then it’s not a problem, because you can’t have eight midfielders for three positions, three right-backs, three left-backs just because we expect to lose some as we go.
“The Juventus squad is strong, competitive in every position, and if one misses out another will play.
“Rodrigo Bentancur? He could be compatible with [Miralem] Pjanic, he’s adapting well but we don’t want to put too much pressure on Bentancur because he’s just a young lad.
“He has great quality, but above all he has great personality so I’m happy with what he’s doing but he, like [Federico] Bernardeschi needs time to carve out his place.
“Bernardeschi has grown a lot since he came here and he’ll definitely be an important player for Juventus, but he needs to make his path just as all young players who have come to Juventus in the past.”