Juventus' second-half showing satisfies Allegri
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Article summary
Massimiliano Allegri praised his Juventus team after an improved second-half display against Malmö FF in Group A put them within touching distance of the knockout stages.
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Article body
• Juventus need a point on matchday six to seal qualification
• Claudio Marchisio relishes the prospect of a "final" against Atlético
• Åge Hareide says his Malmö side will give it "all they've got" in last match
• Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tévez goals confirmed Malmö's exit
• Next games: Olympiacos v Malmö, Juventus v Atlético (9 December)
Åge Hareide, Malmö coach
Juventus are very good inside the box with their defensive marking. That made it hard for us. We were not good enough in the second half but we played well in the first.
Tomorrow we leave for a mini-camp in Spain. We get to train on good pitches and hopefully train well and work on our tactics before the game against Olympiacos. We have to give it all we've got, but it will be difficult. They are strong at home. They play with confidence at home and that makes them a lot better. If we focus we can play better than we did today.
Robin Olsen, Malmö goalkeeper
It was a very difficult game. Juventus are a very good team and they showed it. They pass the ball around and we did not come up to level we achieved when we played against Atlético, so it was tough. Every game we play against these teams we learn much. We need to take this with us for next year's qualifiers. We want to win, play good and hopefully we can get a good result [against Olympiacos].
Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus coach
In the first half Malmö played very well. We made a few too many errors but we played better in the second half, and most importantly we won. One important change was Arturo Vidal, who played a lot better and was a lot more involved in the play in the second half. We talked before the second half about needing to work harder and pass better, which we did.
There are no easy games, and this was not an easy victory. We haven't played at our very best in this competition, and we have lost two games however, we have nine points. Maybe it could be more, but it is still nine points. We will try and win the last game to be able to win the group. That is our objective.
Claudio Marchisio, Juventus midfielder
It was not an easy game but we finally managed to win. Malmö created problems, especially in the first half, but in the second half we played much better and scored the goal which broke the deadlock. These three points are crucial for us.
We knew they were going to play long balls and our coach had told us that we had to be ready on second balls in order to win possession. Both Carlos Tévez and Fernando Llorente used the spaces their defence left well and we were able to exploit that. Against Atlético it will be like a final. We played well against them in Madrid, even though we ended up losing. Qualification is the most important thing. We will try to win the last game and if things go well, we will also try to score more and finish first.
Now we must focus on Atlético. It's the last game and we've suffered a lot in this group but we approach this game in the best condition. We will try to play well against Atlético knowing that if results go our way, we'll qualify.