Juventus kicked off 2022 with a draw at home to Napoli. Federico Chiesa conjured up a second-half equaliser to cancel out Dries Mertens’ opener and despite the hosts’ attempts to bag a winner late on, there would prove to be no more goals. Boss Max Allegri and Manuel Locatelli shared their views after the game.
MASSIMILIANO ALLEGRI
“This was a clash with a direct rival. Napoli played well and we did too. We could’ve taken the lead, but we lacked precision in the final third. After equalising, we had three or four minutes of decent pressure. We then became a bit sloppy in possession and rushed our play. We wanted to win to close the gap in the table, but we should also focus on the positives. The gap still remains the same. The team produced a good performance against a decent Napoli side that knew how to make life difficult for us. In general, we have to start scoring more goals. There were some good signs out there today: Chiesa got back among the goals and we did better from set pieces with our midfielders getting into the box. We’re working hard on that and I feel the goals will come.”
MANUEL LOCATELLI
“There’s a feeling of disappointment because we wanted to win. We played well in terms of our intensity. In the second half, we upped the tempo but we must try to do that for the full 90 minutes to get as many points on the board as possible. We know it’s a key month and we have to give our all.”