UCL: Juve boss Allegri rules Dybala and Morata out of Chelsea clash
Max Allegri confirms Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata will ‘certainly’ miss Chelsea and Torino games, while he explains what went wrong in Juventus’ 3-2 victory over Sampdoria.
It was their first home win of the season, their second victory this week after the 3-2 at Spezia, but again the defence leaked goals and confidence seemed low.
This was Allegri’s 400th Serie A match as a coach, but he seemed furious in the final minutes after Samp pulled it back to 3-2.
It was their 20th consecutive top flight game without a clean sheet.
“The team defended well as a team, but there were errors on a corner for 3-1 and then we gave it away in midfield for 3-2,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We should’ve killed the game off earlier, we’re happy to have a second consecutive victory, the first at home, and will now prepare for Chelsea.”
To make matters worse, Dybala limped off in tears after just 20 minutes with a muscular problem, while Alvaro Morata was also touching the back of his thigh as he came off.
“Dybala and Morata certainly won’t play against Chelsea or Torino. That is for certain. We can only hope that we get them back after the break for international duty.
“This is part of the game, we have to keep going.”
Allegri was asked if he had gone too defensive with his substitutions when it was still 3-1.
“I introduced Ramsey because Locatelli and Bentancur were tired, while using a three-man defence was meant to give more width, so that’s not why we conceded. We conceded because we lost the ball in midfield and everyone ran backwards.”
Juventus have now not kept a clean sheet in 20 Serie A games, conceding with a Maya Yoshida header on a corner and Antonio Candreva strike.
“Clean sheets are pretty rare nowadays anyway, I saw yesterday 2-2 and 3-3 results. On the corner, there was a distraction in the marking and we need to be more focused. We man-mark on set plays. Bonucci realised there was danger and went to get Yoshida, but he’d lost his man before the corner was even taken.
“Matthijs de Ligt had never played three at the back, but he has the characteristics to play there. In some games we’ll have four at the back, in some three. What we do need to do is be more careful on set plays and take more of our chances.”
Read Also: Lazio 3-2 Roma: Sarri stuns Mourinho on Serie A derby day
Allegri was asked if Juventus have lost their ‘work ethic’ since his last spell here, under Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo.
“I don’t know what happened over the last two years, I can only say we are working well. We should’ve been 3-0 up after 20 minutes, we created far more than in the other games. Killing off a match early gives you space and time to control the situation, whereas keeping it open to the end takes physical and psychological energy out of you.
“We cannot think Juventus must dominate for 90 minutes, because nobody can, but when the time comes to defend against a good side like Sampdoria, we need to be ready.”