Max Allegri compares
Juventus to ‘sailors in stormy seas’ and explains his tactical decisions to neutralise Chelsea and hit them on the break in a 1-0 Champions League victory.
It was Federico Chiesa who got the winning goal 11 seconds after the restart, before Chelsea had managed to get a single touch.
For all of their possession, the reigning Champions League holders didn’t have a shot on target, Romelu Lukaku and Kai Havertz turning over.
“Usually, when sailors are in stormy seas, they can always find the way out. That’s what we did tonight with a great game against the Champions of Europe,” Allegri told Amazon Prime Italia.
“We can play better than this in purely technical terms, but we frankly didn’t allow many real clear-cut chances and we wasted a couple of dangerous counter-attacks too.
“After two games, six points and zero goals conceded, that’s a good step towards qualification for the Round of 16.”
The Bianconeri went into this showdown with only one striker available, Moise Kean, yet the coach opted to bench him in favour of Federico Bernardeschi as a False 9, flanked by Juan Cuadrado and Chiesa.
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I thought we could have an advantage by playing three upfront, then I moved Chiesa to centre-forward with Bernardeschi behind and it went better.”
There were also improvements in the middle of the park,
where Manuel Locatelli and Rodrigo Bentancur are starting to get to know each other.
“Bentancur struggles by himself, today Locatelli did better in blocking off Lukaku. Adrien Rabiot did not start well, but he improved as the game went on.”
Chelsea had 66 per cent possession, but it’s also fair to say that was the approach Allegri wanted.
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Juventus must know how to win games like this, when you have to suffer and fight for the result. That’s what the lads did this evening.
“With all due respect to the Champions of Europe, Wojciech Szczesny didn’t have a real save to make.”
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Federico Chiesa saw ‘the
Juventus spirit’ writ large in this evening’s 1-0 Champions League victory over Chelsea, achieved amid an injury crisis.
It was a stunning start to the second half, scoring within 11 seconds of the restart and without Chelsea getting a single touch, Federico Bernardeschi threading through for Chiesa to blast into the roof of the net.
Although the reigning Champions League holders dominated possession, they failed to create many genuine chances, firing off target with Romelu Lukaku and Kai Havertz.
On the other hand, Juve really should’ve had a second with Bernardeschi failing to make the most of a Juan Cuadrado volleyed assist.
“It was a hard-fought performance, because Chelsea pinned us back and did really well in possession, but this evening we showed what the Juve spirit is all about, the spirit that the coach asks for,” Chiesa told Amazon Prime Italia.
“We started out with a system, then the coach changed so we could attack the space, where Chelsea were struggling this evening, and we did well to punish them.”
Chiesa has really made his name as a player for the big occasion, and came up trumps with the UEFA Man of the Match Award.
“It’s a huge challenge, it’s wonderful to play in this competition. Now we enjoy this victory, but then there’s another very important game coming up on Saturday.”
Juventus are still lagging behind in Serie A and face
Torino in the Derby della Mole this weekend.
Chiesa also took the opportunity to hit out at the media, who suggested Allegri was dropping him to prove a point.
“I’ve never had a problem with the coach, this was just created by the media. I do whatever he asks, there’s no issue here. I know you lot like it when Juve start the season badly, so you can start with pointless gossip, but we are all behind the coach and want to bring Juve back to the years of dominating the Scudetto race.”