Allegri: “Parma are having a great season”

Massimiliano Allegri was full of praise for Juve's next opponents Parma as he spoke at a news conference to preview their Serie A Week 22 fixture.

Roberto D’Aversa's side travel to Allianz Stadium on Saturday sitting comfortably in mid table in what has thus far been a successful first season back in the top flight.

“Parma deserve plaudits for the season they've having,” Allegri began. “They're a well-drilled side who have had some great results. They've won two of their last three away games and have pacy, skilful players up front. We'll need to be on our game if we want to win and get ourselves back on track in the league.”

TEAM NEWS

“The lads trained well today. [Giorgio] Chiellini's injury is not serious – he should be back in 10-15 days. [Mario] Mandzukic will return up front tomorrow and I have to decide who else will play alongside him and [Cristiano] Ronaldo – it will be either [Paulo] Dybala, [Federico] Bernardeschi or Douglas Costa.

“[Martin] Caceres will partner [Daniele] Rugani at centre-back, [Mattia] Perin will start in goal and [Leonardo] Spinazzola or Alex Sandro will play at left-back – Spinazzola has a good chance of starting. [Miralem] Pjanic is ready in midfield.

“The main thing is we bounce straight back after losing to Atalanta. We still have lots of games to win if we want to reclaim the Scudetto and we must keep Napoli at a safe distance.”

CANCELO AND DYBALA

“I spoke to Joao [Cancelo] this morning. He's an extraordinary player with the potential to become the best right-back in the world. He has to work on his distribution and the defensive side of his game, and keep calm.

“Dybala has played loads of matches. The position he plays in depends on the attributes of those around him. Along with Ronaldo and Mandzukic he's one of the players who has the most shots. He had a good game against Atalanta. Last year we were used to seeing him score loads of goals but we didn't have Ronaldo in the team then.”

DEFEAT IN BERGAMO

“It's perfectly normal to mess up a game or two over the course of a season. It happened to us in the league the last few seasons too. It's very difficult to win all the time. We were without Mandzukic in Bergamo, a centre forward who stretches the opposition. We beat Lazio in Rome with a similar performance to the one against Atalanta. We were sloppy and our movement wasn't so good.”

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

“In the last four years Juventus have reached the Champions League final twice, the quarter-finals once and the last 16. When I first joined this club, people were worried whether we could beat Malmo and I already believed we could reach the final.

“There are seven or eight teams in Europe who are good enough for the semi-finals but only four can get there and only two can play in the final. We have to produce good performances and win Serie A while trying to win the Champions League, just as we've done in previous years. To succeed you need to be both good and lucky. Football is not a video game – you don't win the trophy just because you've got Ronaldo. Winning is something extraordinary, not ordinary.”

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