Allegri: Juve have not achieved their goal yet

Juventus host bottom side Venezia with the visitors still fighting tooth and nail in their battle for survival. Massimiliano Allegri has seen his Bianconeri side rise up to touching distance of third place, though at the time of writing this Napoli are blowing Sassuolo away so Juve’s chances at ending the season in third are looking slim.

What in his mind was the reason behind the rotating carousel at the top of the Scudetto this season with no team able to grab the reins and hold them.

“Because there is no team of absolute value that can dominate the league. And it’s also nice this way because there’s more balance and it’s nice to see how it ends up.

“It would have an important meaning [finishing third], on January 10 we were in a bad position in the table. There has been work, a chase. Let’s see if we can catch Napoli who were fighting for the Scudetto until their last game.”

What should his team be focusing on tomorrow?

“First of all we have to return to winning at home. There are still four games to go, we have the chance to take three points against a team that has changed coach and has been losing for eight games.

“They have always fought, we have always conceded goals in the last four and tomorrow we must try not to concede. Tomorrow we need to have great respect for our opponents, we think we’ve already achieved our goal but that’s not the case.”

Moise Kean popped up with the late winner last week at Sassuolo, how has his season gone?

“Kean never scores boring goals. Tomorrow I’ll assess whether to play him at the start or not. He made a good start in Sassuolo, he’s in good shape physically and mentally and I’m happy with what he’s doing.”

Juventus have struggled mightily with injuries this season, was there a systemic issue that he was aware of?

“I think the muscle injuries have been average. The long ones were all traumatic, even Danilo himself got injured in a game. That penalised us but it says a lot about how the team performed.

“Arthur will be available tomorrow. Danilo was rested for a few days but he trained with the team today. He needs to rest but he must play tomorrow.

“Juan Cuadrado should be back for Genoa, Mattia De Sciglio we’ll see. Weston McKennie and Manuel Locatelli are working well, we hope to have them available by the end of the season but it’s difficult.”

What were Allegri’s thoughts on passing the ball out from the back, especially with how Inter Milan could have thrown away the Scudetto with an error like that.

“In everything you need balance. The mistake is not thinking you can’t do one or the other. You have to understand when you have to play from deep, and when to play long.

“We all want to play, sometimes it is not allowed by the opponent. There are times when something happens to the goalkeepers. It was important for the goalkeepers, but they make mistakes like everyone else, that’s it.”

Does he have any regrets from this season, and would he replay any game given the chance to do so?

“The president is right, if you don’t win, you have regrets. It was difficult. Now we have the chance to play for third place with Napoli and we’ll try. Let’s also look at the positive things, the way it started and continued, I think Juve did good things.

“We can’t throw away a season in which, if we succeed, we get into the Champions League. We could have done better, but there are also positive things in a year.

“I’d like to play the Champions League again. You have to remember the mistakes we made. But there have been some positive things, it’s pointless thinking about how the season will end.

“We have to get the four points we need and play the Coppa Italia final in the best possible way.”

In his mind were any of the youngsters ready to make the step up to the first team?

“These are assessments that we will make at the end of the year. Let’s finish and then we’ll evaluate everything, those we have inside always train with us while the others are followed weekly in the games they play.”