ALLEGRI: "TITLE RACE WILL GO TO THE WIRE"
While Massimiliano Allegri is predominately known for his coaching exploits, which have yielded two league titles and TIM Cup and TIM Super Cup honours, the Tuscan was also a tidy creative midfielder in his day: "I was a young man at the time and had never even contemplated what I would do once my playing career came to an end, let alone that I would eventually be sitting in the Juventus dugout! I have some fantastic memories of Pescara and part of me will always feel at home there.”
“It’s too early to say whether we will achieve that, we are only midway through the season! What I can say is that we have responded brilliantly to our slow start, a time in which we were still trying to ingratiate our new signings into the squad. The younger guys have come on brilliantly and the more senior members of the dressing room deserve credit for taking them under their wing and helping them to settle and grow. As for this season, we didn’t make the start we would have hoped for but now we are in excellent form, in second place and in a great position from which to push for the title. Our objective naturally is to be champions and we’ve got 19 matches now to make sure that happens. We’ve picked up some big results of late, those against Fiorentina for the importance of the match and Verona given that it was immediately after the break, stand out the most in my eyes.”
The boss was equally as prudent in discussing his side’s Champions League chances against “favourites” Bayern Munich: “What will I say to the boys before the game? I still have no idea, we have two and a half months to think about Bayern. We’ve been dealt one of the toughest draws but we have an excellent chance of reaching the last eight nonetheless. Looking at it positively, if we knock them out we will become one of the favourites for the trophy.”
“Udinese will pose a difficult test for us in what is a big week for them. Although they lost to Carpi last time out they are in decent form and will want to celebrate the full opening of their new stadium in style. It’ll be an important occasion for us too as we want to start the second half of the season in the best possible fashion and keep our objective alive of making Juventus history this year. The title race is so tight and will be so right down to the final day. Whoever finishes the campaign the strongest and puts together the most wins will be champions; for me, 45 points would represent an excellent return between now and May and would be enough to win the title.”
(Photo LaPresse)
