08 March 2018
Massimiliano Allegri could not have been happier after Juventus’ performance against Tottenham. He demanded a display of technical quality from his players and, in the second half in particular, they produced. The boss also knew his team would need to show character and the Bianconeri had that in abundance at Wembley.
Speaking after the game, he said: “It’s a famous win. Well done to the players for what they’ve done this evening, also for what they’ve done this season and over the years, along with the club. I’m really proud to coach them – they deserve all the credit.”
As for how the match panned out, he added: “We did very well to bide our time and strike at the right moment. We were under the cosh at times in the first half, but only at certain moments.
“They put us under pressure most of all when we lost the ball, but after all Tottenham are a quality side, so the team has done really well here.
“In the second half we needed more technical ability in the middle of the park and since [Sami] Khedira was growing into the game I took [Blaise] Matuidi off, even though he won the ball back several times in the first half.
“We gradually improved the quality of our play and bringing on [Kwadwo] Asamoah, a great competitor, and Stephan [Lichtsteiner] supplemented what we were trying to do. Lichtsteiner and Khedira played key roles in the equaliser.”
Looking ahead to Juve’s upcoming fixtures, Allegri concluded: “We’ve now got three games in a week, and they’ll go some way to deciding our challenge for the league title.
“We’re bringing [Gonzalo] Higuain back into the team, [Paulo] Dybala is improving. We’re waiting for [Mario] Mandzukic’s return and [Mattia] De Sciglio will be back too.”
