MY ACCOUNT
Massimiliano Allegri launched an impassioned defence of his Juventus side after they came from a goal down to beat Cagliari 2-1 in Serie A.
Juve have come in for heavy criticism of late following their Champions League elimination at the hands of Villarreal and their Derby d’Italia loss to Inter last week.
But Allegri, who saw his side move within five points of Serie A leaders Milan with a hard-fought victory in Sardinia, believes such critics are overly focused on results.
“I don’t like losing, so I prefer criticism when we play badly, but still win. Nobody remembers the performance last Sunday, they only remember Inter marching towards the Scudetto, not how anybody played,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
“You never know, they might transform tonight’s game too. The comical thing is that you in the media are always going on about beautiful football, but are also the first to focus only on the result!
“I was told that until the 75th minute against Villarreal, all the websites and social media were praising the Juventus performance. Once we conceded, Juventus were called a disaster.
“That doesn’t make sense. The performance remains the same, the only thing that changed was the result. I enjoy myself hearing the criticism, but every now and then some go a bit over the top and that irritates me.
“It’s not just about us, but football in general. I hope in future years people will return to talking about the ABC of football, like the first touch, shaking off your marker, etc. Italy won the World Cup four times, we have our style, but for 15 years we’ve been chasing after Pep Guardiola’s style and didn’t realise he’s changed as well.”
Goals from Matthijs de Light and Dusan Vlahovic, who netted a fortuitous 75th-minute winner, earned Juve all three points after Joao Pedro gave Cagliari a surprise early lead.
Milan and Napoli, who along with Inter are a point adrift of the Rossoneri, both play on Sunday against Torino and Fiorentina respectively.
And Allegri continues to reject talk of a late Scudetto push for Juve.
“We lost a head-to-head with Inter that would’ve allowed us to have Scudetto ambitions,” he added. “We need to be realistic. I continue to maintain Inter are the favourites, especially with their fixture list.
“Naturally, it’s going to shake a team when you chase down the light at the end of the tunnel for 16 games and then it vanishes. That is why this was a very risky match, especially with players injured and suspended.
“We needed to win this evening to consolidate fourth place, reaching the final two rounds with a good advantage.”
