Allegri: What happens next season at Juventus is not known

Juventus are stumbling to finish the season especially with the FIGC Court of Appeal ruling about a ten-point deduction coming just minutes before their game at Empoli, and not for the first time the team crumbled mentally and subsequently on the pitch when struck by adversity.

The Bianconeri will need to win both remaining games and hope results go their way, and could still find themselves out of European action next season, which would be disastrous to the club’s financial position. That is if UEFA do not choose to pile salt on Juve’s open wound by suspending them from continental action for any number of reasons president Aleksander Ceferin could choose.

Speaking during his pre-match conference ahead of the big clash with AC Milan on Sunday coach Massimiliano Allegri tried to keep on a brave face.

“It was a difficult week, not a good one looking at the results. The disappointment of Sevilla, the bitterness, the anger and then the defeat against Empoli.

“Now we need to dust ourselves off because there are two games left and tomorrow is Juventus-Milan. The stadium will be full, it will have to be a good evening also because we have to make up places in the league table.

“Tomorrow is the last game of this season at home. Tomorrow is only about Juventus-Milan. They aim to get into the Champions League, mathematically we are not out of anything. The match in Empoli certainly did complicate the process, though.”

The Bianconeri are in the process of hiring a new sporting director, was Allegri involved in the selection of the person to take over?

“With the club, we are in line on everything. I’m a coach, I’ve never had the power and I don’t even want to have it. The club makes the decisions and these are things I have never spoken about and above all never had a say on.

“I care a lot about the team that I work for, I work well with all the people who are employed by the club because the goal is getting results for Juventus. I didn’t like the rumours that I had an influence (over the choice of sporting director). I don’t have the power, these are things that exclusively concern the club.”

What in his mind went wrong this season, the second straight campaign that Juve will end without a trophy?

“Answering this question in 1 minute is difficult. I think we have worked very hard and we have another 10 days in which we need to work even harder. We need to get the most out of Juventus’ DNA. We made a mistake in Empoli, we lost a match we couldn’t afford to. We know it. We went in off the back of the disappointment of Sevilla and the 10-point deduction.

“Let’s look to tomorrow, a good match against Milan to reach the top four spots. We have to think about Europe as a viable possibility.”

Has he received any assurances from the club regarding his position long-term as the coach?

“We’ll talk to the club on 5 June when everything is over because at the moment the present focus is on tomorrow. We’ve already had too many distractions in recent months, from the ruling to the board. It hasn’t been an easy season since November.

“What happens next year is not yet known. The players are focused, I’ve asked them to give all their energy tomorrow.”