17 April 2018
Here's what Massimiliano Allegri had to say at Tuesday's Crotone-Juve pre-match press conference:
THINKING ONLY OF CROTONE
"I think the most important and decisive match of the week is tomorrow because taking a six-point lead into Sunday’s match would be an important gap…tomorrow we face a Crotone team that is doing well and didn’t deserve to lose to Genoa. They’ve earned most of their points at home and have six more than last year."
"The guys gave a good response after Madrid playing a very good match against Sampdoria, but tomorrow we need to take three more points because we haven’t won anything yet. Napoli’s only goal left is the Scudetto and they’ll do everything to re-open the race while we also have the Coppa Italia. In any case, the Scudetto must not escape us."
"Right now, we have 84 points which in other seasons would be very close to a Scudetto but this year it’s not…Napoli has a great chance to break their record of 87 points, as Sarri has said, and are still there fighting for the championship…meanwhile, before Naples – I repeat – we must beat Crotone."
TEAM NEWS
"Andrea Barzagli is already available, because he was on the bench the other day. Pjanic is definitely out, then the others are more or less all available. I have to evaluate Bernardeschi today whether to bring him or not."
"If Higuain is fine, he will start tomorrow because we have to win, I’m not even thinking about Sunday evening…Benatia will play to give Chiellini a rest…tomorrow Szczesny will play."
DYNAMIC DUO
"It’s not just now that Douglas [Costa] has been great, he’s an important part of our squad and a player with great technique and international experience...It’s normal toward the end of the season a player with his skills would exploit teams that maybe have more physical exhaustion at the end of the season."
“Sami Khedira is a seasoned international. He’s always played everywhere he’s gone with every coach he’s had and there’s a reason for that. He spent five seasons at Real Madrid and after an injury lay-off arrived at Juventus, which was an excellent purchase, and he’s shown his unquestionable quality."
