Atalanta vs Juventus - Allegri demanding even more from table-toppers Juve

Posted Sunday, December 23, 2018 by PA

Topping the table at Christmas means very little to Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri, who wants six more points on the board before the new year arrives.

Juve restored their eight-point lead over second-placed Napoli by beating Roma 1-0 in Turin on Saturday night thanks to a first-half goal from Mario Mandzukic, but the Bianconeri toiled fruitlessly in pursuit of a second goal to kill the game off.

Next is a trip to face Atalanta on Boxing Day, which is swiftly followed by next Saturday’s home meeting with Sampdoria.

Allegri told juventus.com: “We haven’t won anything yet. We are doing good things and we are the winter champions but we need to have picked up even more points as of December 29.

“The lads played well after the break and (Robin) Olsen made some good saves. Overall I’m happy, we put on a good show.

“We had to put a lot of pressure on Roma to make things difficult for them psychologically, and after we took the lead there were a few situations which we could have exploited better, but on the whole we did well, in both halves.”

Juve captain Giorgio Chiellini rued the failure to get past Roma goalkeeper Olsen again after the break, with Cristiano Ronaldo experiencing the bulk of the frontline’s frustration.

Chiellini said: “The strength of this team is not one player: whether that’s me, or Cristiano, or Mario, but it’s in the collective and we saw that tonight.

“In the second half we could have done a bit better when we were in possession in their half, we were struggling to counter-attack at times.

“We can get better, because we really needed to score a second goal. Games are played across the whole 90 minutes.

“We’ll enjoy a few hours of rest and then it’s on to thinking about Bergamo, where a tough game awaits us.”

Roma head coach Eusebio Di Francesco, whose side are languishing down in eighth place due to inconsistent form, said: “In the first 45 minute we saw the same fear and insecurity of recent games.

“But after the break we overcame that: we battled with determination and used the ball a lot better.”