Allegri insists the Juventus squad remain united

Juventus are embroiled in turmoil right now after yet another disappointing performance midweek in the Champions League saw them slip to a history-making and embarrassing defeat away at Maccabi Haifa.

The squad went into ritiro at their training base in Continassa on their return to Turin and that is where they have been preparing for tomorrow’s Derby della Mole clash against cross-city rivals Torino.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference today, Allegri vehemently denied rumours that there were some players who were dissatisfied with the idea of the retreat.

“It’s absolutely not true that somebody rejected to come. The team has never asked not to make the training retreat and it was a punishment. We returned [from Israel] on Wednesday at 6 pm, and we trained straight away. The following morning we were on the pitch at 10 am.

“We are focused on how to end this situation, the only way to do it is by getting a result. We have a derby tomorrow, an important game for both. Torino are an aggressive team, they have intensity, so we need to be careful and work as a team. We must obtain a good result.”

Allegri insisted that despite their recent slump, Juventus’ targets remain the same as before.

“We are far behind in Serie A, we were affected by games against Monza and Salernitana, that’s what we got wrong. Now, 29 games are remaining and we want to recover. We’ll focus on the Champions League after the match with Empoli.

“We must pay more attention, especially in the defensive phase.”

Club President Andrea Agnelli had come out to speak to the media in the aftermath of the loss in Israel, insisting that Allegri had the full support of the club’s leadership.

“The President has given motivation to the environment, now we must be even more united. We must be altogether to end this moment, we must do simple things.

“It’s not a personal challenge, this situation involves everyone. We win and lose together. The team has worked well these two days, today we have a last training session and tomorrow we play.

“From the outside, you may think that the team is not united, but I believe they all have the desire to overcome difficulties. A match won’t solve all their problems, we need a nice performance tomorrow.”

Would Moise Kean be a way to freshen up the line-up?

“He felt a little problem before the match with Maccabi, so I didn’t want to take any risk. Tomorrow, I will pick two between Kean, Vlahovic and Milik. I haven’t decided on the line-up yet, we have the last training today.”

Summer signing Leandro Paredes has taken a lot of flak for his performances at the base of the midfield.

“He hadn’t played much with PSG before coming here, then he played some good games. Paredes is not the problem, other midfielders are not the problem, it concerns everyone.”