The men’s international break has finished and Juventus are back in action this weekend, with a tough test away at Lazio awaiting on Saturday. Kick-off in Rome is set for 18:00 CET.
The Bianconeri will be keen to get back to winning ways and put an end to what has been a tricky run of results, as Massimiliano Allegri himself addressed in his pre-match press conference on Friday. Below, we’ve picked out some of the best bits of what he had to say.
A 55-DAY SPRINT TO THE FINISH
“The players who have returned from international duty are well, and those who stayed with us worked a lot on the pitch. Now we’re all ready for that final push to the finish line, we have 55 days to take us to the end of the season.
“Samuel Iling-Junior has played a lot this year, we think highly of him and he’s growing a lot. I’m happy with what he has done.
“I expect a lot from Moise Kean, he wants to do well to earn a place with Italy at the European Championship. He has recovered physically and he’ll start against Lazio tomorrow.”
FOCUSED ON OBJECTIVES
“The most important thing for us now is that we’re all focused on the end of the season. We’ve dropped a lot of points and we have to be realistic. In the second half of the season we’ve only picked up 13 points, and now we have 27 to play for to consolidate our place in the Champions League spots. Then there’s the Italian Cup, and on Tuesday we have another important game against Lazio hoping to stay in the fight for silverware. We have to think about that too.
“I’m happy the club have shown their trust in me, I had no doubt about that. At the moment, though, we need to focus on the present.”
500 GAMES AS COACH, CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GOALS
“I’m pleased to have reached 500 games in charge, and it’s evidence of my desire, passion and love for the job and this sport. I want to have fun still and I love being out on the pitch.
“For now, we need 70 points to reach the Champions League, and there are still a lot of matches against teams around us left to play. We know that 59 points are not enough and we have to pick up more. Tough periods like this help with growth as individuals and as a team.”
Source juventus/Football Reporting
