Juventus coach Max Allegri believes their 1-0 win over Lazio laid the foundation for them to kickstart their league campaign. The Bianconeri put in one of their best performances in some time, overcoming an in-form Biancocelesti side in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, winning by a fine solo goal from Gleison Bremer. Speaking to Mediaset after the game, Allegri spoke of how his team could use this performance to kick on in the league, following their shock 2-0 defeat to Monza last weekend:
“The boys played a good match. We have laid the foundations for a good restart in the league. Locatelli is an important example in terms of heart and brains, he has the Juve DNA inside him and never backs down. He is important for us, for the present and for the future’.
“Chiesa did some good things, Vlahovic some good and some less. Cuadrado, on his return, played an extraordinary game. But they were all good at not giving up as we did against Monza, where we conceded two very avoidable goals.
“To win, in addition to tactics and technique, you need the right spirit. Today we won many duels and played in an orderly manner against their pressing. We come from a not easy moment, maybe we lost a bit of tranquillity.
“Playing against Lazio isn’t easy, if they go off at speed it’s not easy. We slowed them down and closed the passing trajectories. When Milinkovic came on, we also defended well on crosses. In the second half they had possession and we were dangerous on the counter. It was a good game, we played well in the first half with the ball and at times in the second. We slowed them down and conceded little to nothing.
“Yes, I got angry with Di Maria and left the pitch: with one minute to go the game has to be managed, it has to be held, because everything can still change. Pogba? It’s difficult for him to be available for Salernitana, but he remains a player we count on. When things get stuck in reverse then you have to be patient to come out of it. We are waiting for him.”
