Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri spoke to media a little over 24 hours ahead of the highest profile game in his coaching career: the Champions League final in Berlin that pits the bianconeri against Barcelona
Hours after landing in Berlin the Juventus boss, his shotstopper Gianluigi Buffon, and central defender Leonardo Bonucci held the ritualistic press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League final in Berlin where the Serie A champions will vie for Europe’s ultimate prize against the blaugrana from the Catalan capital (20:45 CET). Here is what Allegri said, as reported by TuttoJuve.com:
Bonucci and Buffon say you are not favourites. Do you concur?
“We stared this competition with the objective to end up in the top 8. We have superceded this objective, as we’re among the first two. Now we want to be first.”
How do you stop Messi, Neymar and Suarez? How’s Vidal?
“Vidal said that this is the most important game of his life. I hope so and hope that there will be more. The refrain these days is ‘how do you stop Messi-Neymar-Suarez?’. We do very well and score a goal, because this match will hardly end 0-0.”
You already faced Barcelona when you coached Milan. Will you use the same tactic?
“Absolutely not because they played in a different way, without a forward. It’s a Barça without Xavi but with Rakitic, two different factors. And with an extra forward.”
Bonucci said that he would like to dedicate this trophy to the victims of the Heysel tragedy.
“It’s a dark day, a tragedy that we must remember. As I said before we must give our affection and care to the families, and remember the victims.”
You have achieved the final as an outsider but you and Luis Enrique are the surprises of this Champions League. Do you feel like the outsider of the outsiders and what do you think of Luis Enrique’s work, whom inherited a heavy burden?
“Luis Enrique’s work speaks for itself. Tomorrow one of the two teams will win a triplete. We hope that it’s us. I would like to compliment him, it wasn’t easy, it never is for big teams although from the outside one may be led to believe otherwise. At Roma he struggeled but it was natural, given that he came from another league and had to adjust. But one could see that he had the right idea.”
There is a risk that many players will bid Juventus goodbye at game’s end. Does this bother you ahead of a final?
“Before a Champions League final there is little, rather nothing that bothers me. Tomorrow we will be focused on this game, because it must be a great game. Like in every final we will need a little bit of luck. We will have to be brave to drag her our way.”
Do you see one player who is particularly tense? Did you have to do something to loosen them up?
“No, the team practiced serenely from Monday when we resumed training after the game in Verona. I feel sorry for what happened to Chiellini. We lost a man who followed the entire Champions League journey, doing very well in terms of game play. Luckily we have Barzagli and Ogbonna. If Barzagli, as it seems, is well he will play. If Barzagli will have some issues Ogbonna will play.”
What did your mentor Galeone tell you, and do you think that you have a particular tactic to stop Dani Alves and Jordi Alba?
“I spoke with Galeone ten days ago, it was too many days ahead of the match. We must not think about limiting Barcelona, we must think about how to score. We need to play a technical game, they’re a technical team and keep the ball a lot. Their offensive pressing is their best defence.”
There are a lot of jinxsters against you. Does this limit or charge up the dressing room? What do you want to tell the fans who are against you?
“I don’t believe that jinxing is part of the sport. It’s normal that it’s important to have an Italian finalist. It’s been since 2010 that an Italian team hasn’t gotten this close. I think that Italian football fans can’t wait to see Juventus lift the cup because it’s good for Italian football, which has been denigrated by many.”
Do you think that Barcelona has weak spots and how do you hit them? Pogba said that he will give it his all. Will he be your special weapon?
“Tomorrow evening everyone will give it their best. It’s a one-game test match we have no chance to avenge ourselves. We must be in our best physical and mental conditions, which we are. We must play well against a team that has great individual skill, a great collective but like all teams they have some weak spots.”
Guardiola said that if Messi is well, he’s unbeatable. Do you concur?
“I hope that he’s beatable tomorrow. We’re here to do just that, otherwise we would do a different type of leisure cruise.”
Buffon said that if he had to, he would rip his hair out just to win the Champions League tomorrow. Would you?
“No, because I already have a few left… tomorrow we will have to take the last step, an important one, a difficult one, like every Champions League match.”
Not many coaches go from Serie C to a Champions League final. How did this journey contribute to your growth? Do you agree that coaches won’t add any more than 5 to 10% in terms of impact?
“I always say that players impact the game. The coach must put them in the conditions to do well, and to improve. My journey helped me grown and achieve this result. I learned a lot and I must still improve.”
You came to Juventus to improve their European performance. What did you change? Given the finals Juventus lost do you feel the weight of history?
“Juventus has played seven Champions League/Cup finals, winning two and losing 5. Barcellona also achieved seven, winning four and losing three. We’ll either end up with a 3 and 5 result or 2 and 6. As far as mentality is concerned, I often said that what matters in the Champions League is that the episodes are decisive, sometimes we did well, while others we didn’t do as well like in Monaco, where we were accused of not playing a good game. But in order to go deep in the Champions League you can’t always play at your best. Perhaps waht changed is our style of play: in European competition we almost always played with a four-man defence, even though in Dortmund we played with three at the back. Last year Juventus was eliminated based on an unfortunate episode in Turkey, which changed the season. This year, notwithstanding tomorrow’s result, we have done an extraordinary season because beyond a fourth scudetto we also won our tenth Italian Cup, after 20 years. The club is trying to consolidate and to establish itself among Europe’s top 8 teams.”
How charged up is the little Juventus fan that’s within you, considering Juventus troubled history? How much of a disadvantage do you have considering the fact that Luis Enrique has coached in Italy and knows Juventus well?
“He knows Italian football well, but this game will be a match onto itself. We will have to do well to stay within the game for 95 minutes, we will have to be strong and must reverse unfavourable predictions.”
You have a great midfield with Pogba and Vidal. Will they be the deciding factors?
“I believe that the midfield will be the hottest zone of the field.”
In case you win tomorrow, would you consider Buffon and Tevez Ballon D’Or candidates?
“They would be notwithstanding tomorrow’s result. Tevez, for what he’s done throughout his career and in this season, and Buffon for being decisive in important matches. I have spent many words in Gigi’s favour: he deserves the Ballon d’Or”.
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