(Reuters) – Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri stated that the team’s primary goal is to finish in the top four of Serie A and dismissed talk of a potential title challenge as premature. The team is currently in second place in the league, just two points behind leaders Inter Milan after 13 matches.
Juve will have the chance to temporarily move to the top of the table when they face Monza on Friday.
“We must all have the ambition to desire something important, but now the most important thing is the Monza match,” Allegri told reporters. “We always have to look at fifth in the standings and have to watch our backs to maintain the gap from the teams behind us. However, this cannot be done with the result of a single match: the championship is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Allegri emphasized that the team still has a long season ahead and that their current ambition is to secure a top-four position in the league. “Being two points behind Inter is a source of pride, but again, we haven’t achieved anything yet,” he said. “For everyone’s good we must aim for fourth place.”
Allegri also provided injury updates, stating that Danilo and Alex Sandro would be available to face Monza, while the fitness of Manuel Locatelli would be evaluated on Thursday.
Reflecting on their upcoming match against Monza, Allegri acknowledged the challenges they faced against the team last season and praised their coach Raffaele Palladino. “It won’t be easy in Monza and we’ve known this since last year: they are the only team that took six points off of us last season and we didn’t find a way to score against them,” he said. “Palladino is doing very well and I am sure that in his growth and evolution he can only improve, not only on the pitch but also off it: he can have an excellent career.”
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
