(Reuters) – Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri admitted he is still not over his side’s Champions League exit at the hands of Villarreal last month.
Allegri, who won five Serie A titles in a row during his first spell in Turin between 2014 and 2019, succeeded Andrea Pirlo last May, but has had limited success this season.
Having fallen at the last-16 stage of the Champions League for the third season in a row after a 4-1 aggregate defeat to Spanish side Villarreal, Juve have also struggled to keep pace in the Serie A title race, sitting fourth in the standings.
“I would like to play the Champions League again,” Allegri told a news conference on Saturday ahead to his side’s clash with Venezia. “You have to remember the mistakes we made.
“But there have been some positive things to take away from it, it is pointless thinking about how the season will end.”
“We have to get the four points we need to qualify for (next season’s) Champions League and play the Coppa Italia final in the best possible way.”
Napoli’s poor recent form has enabled Juve to close the gap on Luciano Spalletti’s side in third, with Allegri insisting finishing behind the Milan clubs this term would be something to celebrate.
“It would have an important meaning (to finish third), because on January 10th we were in a bad position in the standings,” he added.
“Let’s see if we can take on Napoli who until recently fought for the Scudetto and therefore is a team that has values and will try to make up for it, winning as many points as possible from here to the end.”
The Italian coach added that Juan Cuadrado, Weston McKennie and Manuel Locatelli will all miss Sunday’s clash with Venezia through injury.
(Reporting by Peter Hall, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
