MY ACCOUNT
Massimiliano Allegri called on Dusan Vlahovic to be more unpredictable after his limited impact for Juventus on his return to former club Fiorentina.
Emotions were high as Vlahovic received a hostile welcome from the home fans back at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-final.
Vlahovic, who followed a well-worn path in trading Fiorentina for hated rivals Juve in January for an initial fee of €70million, saw his influence restricted in a pulsating game.
Fiorentina dominated possession and wasted several chances to take the lead, while at the other end Vlahovic registered just 36 touches, the lowest of any Juve player to start and finish the game, with only two of those coming in the opposition box.
He was thwarted by Pietro Terracciano with one of his two shots, but the Fiorentina goalkeeper could do nothing as Juve clinched a 1-0 victory in stoppage time, the hosts punished for their profligacy when Lorenzo Venuti inadvertently deflected Juan Cuadrado’s cross into his own net.
That meant an ineffectual performance from Vlahovic was immaterial, with Allegri focusing on his strengths while delivering a pointer to the man who scored 33 times in Serie A in 2021, equalling the competition’s calendar-year record set by Cristiano Ronaldo – the man he was bought to replace in Turin.
“Vlahovic is very good at playing with the team, we have more of a link now between the midfielders and forwards, so that too is progress,” Allegri told Mediaset.
“It’s important to move around and be more unpredictable, as the simplest and toughest thing in football is to avoid marking.”
“We have to congratulate Fiorentina on a good performance,” he added.
“We suffered with two counter-attacks in the first half, again in the second, and fortunately we didn’t concede because they made mistakes.
“I liked the way we were organised today and only ran risks on counter-attacks. We knew Fiorentina liked to overlap on the flanks and put crosses in, so there wouldn’t be a threat through the centre.
“We should’ve kept the ball in their half more, but I saw progress.”
