Allegri: Juventus performance against Napoli more than just penalties

Juventus came from behind to beat Napoli 3-1 in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals, including two penalties ruthlessly finished by Paulo Dybala. After the game, manager Massimiliano Allegri spoke about the win.

“In the first half more than have the wrong system, we made too many mistakes in our passing, but nonetheless had plenty of chances and allowed Napoli very little.

“The first half was bad on a technical level, the second was much better. I don’t think we played badly with three at the back, we must made too many mistakes in our passing, but it went very well after the break.

“Tonight I have to compliment the entire squad, as they played a fine second half and managed to come back despite going a goal down.

“Napoli are always dangerous and we finished the game on a high, so this bodes well for the future. I think we can improve a great deal in terms of intensity.

“I particularly wish to compliment Miralem Pjanic, someone who has really improved.”

Allegri was questioned about the legitimacy of the two penalties Juve received, especially with the second coming seconds after Raul Albiol had thrown himself to the ground in vain looking for a penalty.

“I don’t want to give any verdict on referees. From the pitch they both looked like penalties, then I don’t know. I think the Juventus performance cannot be reduced to just penalties. We must look beyond these things.”

Napoli were so outraged at the end of the game that they chose to break their media silence to release a statement from director Cristiano Giuntoli -

“We thought it important to publicly thank the lads for their performance and to say we emerge defeated by two decisions that were not debatable, but shameful and damaging to all of Italian football.

“On the first penalty, Dybala knocks the ball on and seeks contact for the penalty. I thought the first one was frankly more of a spot-kick, but watching the replay this one isn’t right either. The striker goes looking for the contact.

“On the second Reina gets the ball, then he certainly cannot disappear and thus contacts the player too. What’s more, that happened after a penalty was not given to us, considering that two of them knocked down one of our players.

“The decisions were shameful.”