Juventus, Allegri: “Inter? We have three points ahead on the pitch”

TURIN – A jab at Mourinho (“Maybe he wanted to attack UEFA, not us”) and a peremptory defense of his work: “The accounts are settled in the end”, Allegri blurts out on the eve of Inter-Juventus, “But at the moment we have 53 points on the pitch, three more than Inter, four more than Lazio, five more than Milan, six more than Roma. We’re playing to defend second place, then in twenty days we can say the opposite of what we say now. In football whoever wins is right, but the accounts are settled in the end”.

Allegri: “We want to defend second place”

The insistence with which he punctuates and underlines the advantage points over more or less celebrated colleagues, and more or less protected by the critics, indicates Allegri’s annoyance at the too trenchant judgments on Juve, “second on the field” but very far in the standings from a team with significantly lower economic potential and expelled from the Champions League with five defeats out of six. Also for this reason he judges Inter-Juventus not only “a direct clash”, but also “a very important match”, because he knows that the result could make a decisive contribution to drawing the balance of the black and white season: finding themselves with six points more or with the same as the highly criticized Inzaghi would make a certain difference.

Juventus, on April 19 Coni decides on -15 in the standings

by Dominic Marchese

March 16, 2023

Three away defeats out of three direct clashes

And in the hypothesis of a success at San Siro (“Let’s remember that Inter have won eleven out of thirteen games at home and that we have lost direct matches with Milan, Naples and Rome away”) the balance of the season would change significantly. “Net of the sanctions, if in the end we finish fifth or sixth it will mean that our season hasn’t been good. When we sum up, we’ll analyze what worked and what didn’t and at that point it will be needless to say that for a long time we didn’t have this or that, because the positive aspect is the five young players we were able to launch in place of the injured players”.

Di Maria still in doubt, only Vlahovic is ok

Allegri will also have injury problems at San Siro, and it’s not just junk. Apart from the usual Milik and Pogba (“I don’t think he will be ready after the break”), it will only be known at the last minute if Bonucci and Miretti will be available. But it is above all the situation in attack that is precarious, because only Vlahovic is in full health. Kean is suspended, Chiesa only works part-time and Di Maria remains unknown. Allegri had declared him ready for Freiburg where he didn’t play even a minute and trained little or nothing during the week. “He looks fine to me,” says the coach. The finishing will be decisive, at present a relay between the Argentine and Chiesa is probable.

After the break there is Milik but not Pogba

For Allegri, in any case, this is the last match in which Juve will have to grit their teeth: “After the break, we’ll have Milik and Alex Sandro, Bonucci and Chiesa will be in condition and I’ll be able to rotate the players especially up front, given that April it will be a very intense month. But we need to improve in match management, understand when to speed up or slow down, make the right passing choices.” In the meantime, the judgment remains suspended. San Siro, in any case, will give a verdict.