Allegri warns Juve about underestimating Young Boys

Juventus play Young Boys in the second game of the Champions League group stage and manager Massimiliano Allegri wants to make sure his side are not overconfident going into the game.

“Games are there to be played and won. We have to respect Young Boys, they win a lot of games, they have a great Coach, they’re good on long balls and they’re physical. We need to take a step forward.

“I didn’t like the last 20 minutes against Napoli. We stopped running and we let them off, we gave Napoli chances we didn’t have to give them.

“Tomorrow we have to reach six points.”

Allegri also gave a squad update, and despite some earlier injury fears, Paulo Dybala will be available after all.

“Up-front I always have two, Mario Mandzukic and Dybala. Moise Kean is also fine, as is Federico Bernardeschi.

“He [Bernardeschi] could play on the wing, as a mezzala, or as a trequartista. It’s also possible he won’t play.”

He went on to add -

“Sami Khedira won’t play from the start, but he’ll be part of the squad. The plan was to take him to Udine, so if he could play half an hour tomorrow that would be positive. There are still two games before the end of this mini-cycle and I’d like to have everyone available.

“Giorgio Chiellini won’t play, Joao Cancelo needs to recover and Andrea Barzagli will play because the old man is always good.

“I have some doubts in midfield, whether we’ll play with two midfielders, two deeper, or three in the middle.”

While he didn’t address the rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo, he did talk about the Champions League suspension.

“He needed to catch his breath, so it’s all good.”

Allegri had already addressed CEO Beppe Marotta’s departure after Saturday’s game, but had more to say today.

“It’s still fresh, when a human and professional relationship ends it’s normal to feel sorry. There’s a moment of adjustment, but there’s a match to be won tomorrow because we can’t throw away what we did in Spain.”