After condeding two late goals against Manchester United, Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri feels it is a learning moment for the Bianconeri.
Over 41,000 packed into the Allianz Stadium as Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his third ever goal against his former club, but Juan Mata equalised late on, before an Alex Sandro own goal in the last minute gave United the win, as Juventus succumbed to their first group stage defeat at home since Bayern Munich in 2009/10.
“That is what football is all about,” Allegri told the press. “This defeat could be painless, but we can’t win all the time and tonight we had an unexpected defeat considering what the team did on the pitch.
“We need to attack more and in the end we conceded two free kicks, with Mata and Felliani they gave more of a physical presence to the team.
“It doesn’t change much as we can’t expect to win all the games, it was better to have a stumble tonight and despite the good performance, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. We have to be more concentrated and more careful.
“I’m not worried, but we need to be more precise and accurate in the final third, and I think we conceded too many freekicks which is something we need to improve on. Either we concede goals because of lack of attention, or on active balls. We need work on this, and a defeat like this will raise our lack of attention.
“What annoys me is losing, and tonight was a test of what kind of reaction we need. And tonight was a match we deserved to win. They didn’t have Felliani in the first leg and tonight they had him and he made an important contribution.
“This is an important lesson we need to learn from. However, in this group stage it shouldn’t matter too much.
The introduction of Felliani seemed to change the game in United’s favour with the midfielder having a hand in the winner for the Red Devils, and Allegri acknowledged the problems he caused.
“It’s simple, the fact that he is 190cm take and strong on the header,” Allegri said. “We didn’t concede many high balls, and Mata’s goal was very good and the second rebounded off Bonucci, before going in off Alex Sandro and at 1-0 this shouldn’t have happened.
“We have always been lucky from one point of view, and unlucky from what has happened tonight. We are still leaders of the group ad can go through, we didn’t win and from one point of view we didn’t lose so it should be an important lesson for us.
“We didn’t spoil Ronaldo’s goal, there were a lot of other occasions to score, but that is football. This is a Champions League match and lots of things can happen. The team played well in defence, as we didn’t concede much and created a lot, and were aware of the difficulties of Fellini coming on. And there was the two freekicks, and from the negative we have to find the positive.”
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com