Allegri: I wanted to see Juventus’ reaction

Juventus came back after a miserable first half performance that saw them go down by two at home against Salernitana to take a share of the points, though they will be particularly aggrieved to have seen a potential winner in time added on disallowed.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri, who was sent off in the melee that ensued late on after the VAR-denied goal, was charitable to the refereeing in his post-match comments.

“Was it a very bad performance? No, you say so, you see games, but you don’t watch them. The opening 20 minutes were very good. Then we conceded this goal from a wrong interpretation of Juan Cuadrado.

“I never talk to referees after games, a goal was disallowed and it’s a fact. The only thing is that I’d like to watch the video again. Antonio Candreva is close to the corner and we haven’t seen that video, what if he keeps everyone onside? We don’t have that video, nobody has it, so I don’t know.

“However, referees must be left alone, the protagonists are the footballers. We have 10-15 good referees in Italy.”

On the basis of this performance would his side be able to eke out a win against Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday?

“We’ll play and see, I am optimistic, games can get complicated, but the reaction in the second half was great. I can compliment the lads for the performance in the second half. The referee was good and took a crucial decision at the end of the game.

“We should have gone to the break down to one goal, but we conceded a penalty kick in the stoppages. We had several shots on targets in the opening 20 minutes and other favourable situations.

“The performance of the second half was good. At least we prepare for the Champions League game with a draw and not a defeat so the mood is different.

“We had never gone down until today and I wanted to see the reaction. It can happen to go down, but you can’t lose the order. It also happened in the previous games, we must make a further step forward, we must manage some situations well.”

On the character of this team that was put to the test today.

“There are some young players, you don’t get personality immediately. It takes time to become accustomed to winning.

“I am sorry we didn’t win, we are four points behind the leaders. I saw a reaction, now we must go to eat and prepare for the game against Benfica well.”

Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images

For his part Bonucci was vehement that Milik’s late goal should have stood, if not for his involvement than that Antonio Candreva looked to have played him onside anyways.

“The explanation was that I was involved in active play, but Sepe would have never caught that, my position didn’t interfere with his potential save. That’s what the rule says. And then, there is the doubt that Candreva keeps everyone onside.

“I am less than a meter behind the goal area, Candreva seems to be above. If you see the colour of the turf, Candreva could keep me onside. I hope they [referees] considered his position, but I guess we’ll never know it.

“Regardless of that, I was not involved in active play and the Salernitana defender even took my shirt off. Now we must analyse the first half, if we play like that, we’ll go nowhere. If we play like in the second half, we can have a role in the league.”