Allegri: ‘It was silent in the dressing room’

Juventus coach Max Allegri has revealed the dressing room was deathly silent in the dressing room after Juve’s 3-1 win over Maccabi: ‘there was no celebrating’. The Bianconeri seemed in charge of the game but conceded a late goal and then a series of dangerous chances that could have potentially ended their hopes of qualifying.

Speaking to Sky Sport Italia after the game, Allegri was full of praise for Angel Di Maria but revealed his players released how close they came to a potential slip up:

Di Maria was marvellous with his passes, an extraordinary player, his first game in quite a while and he did really well.

I was very angry at the end, because you can’t just leave the game in the final 15 minutes and start messing around. You get the chances to score five or six, but if you concede one and then get scared, that is really damaging.

The lads were intelligent though, because when we got back into the locker room it was deathly silent, no celebrating. That showed me they realised what had happened.

We tried to be a bit too pretty and then got scared. Let Di Maria do what Di Maria does, let the others focus on what they need to do.

Rabiot? He has improved a lot, has matured and at 27 is reaching his peak. He can still improve his forward play and get the passes away quicker.

Vlahovic did well on a technical level today, I’d say his best performance on that score, but should’ve scored more as he had four chances and only finished one. He needs to improve the way he gets away from his markers.

We must try to win in Israel and then see what happens in Lisbon, but obviously the final match is going to be decisive.”