Juve, championship mission: armored defense, schedule and 1-0

Massimiliano Allegri continues to be a firefighter but by now it is too late to extinguish the flame of hope in the Juventus fans, fueled first by the words of Pavel Nedved and then by the programmatic manifesto of Paulo Dybala and finally by Federico Cherubini. “After Atalanta and Turin I would have said that the Scudetto was impossible, but now they slowed down in front of us and we got closer. Let’s say we’re not fighting yet, it’s difficult to recover points after the bad start. Let’s say it’s almost impossible, our goal. is entering the Champions League “, declared the vice president from Florence. From that “almost” put in front of the word impossible, it is clear that Juventus believes a little bit and has not lost hope of surprising everyone with another comeback, this time even more incredible than that of 2015-16. Dybala was there that year, he was the first of him in black and white, and perhaps that is why yesterday in Milan, where he received the “Friend of children” award, he relaunched. “Juve must always believe in it,” added Football Director Federico Cherubini from the same stage. Juventus remains lurking and in the event of unexpected gifts does not want to be caught unprepared. So the goal is to try to win them all and hope the others don’t do the same. From the newfound solidity in defense to the overbearing return of the short nose, from the calendar favorable to the recovery of precious players like Dybala and Bernardeschi: that’s why Juve can believe it.

Massimiliano Allegri has always won the Scudetto (both the five in a row for Juventus and the first with Milan) with the best defense. The start of the Max bis was not too encouraging: ten goals conceded in the first 6 league games despite Bonucci, Chiellini and De Ligt. The problem was certainly not the men, but a team that had lost reference points and certainties after the cure Sarri and Pirlo, who had a completely different defensive approach to that of Allegri. The technician has worked a lot on this aspect and now Madama seems to have rediscovered the ancient imperforability. The numbers speak of 5 goals collected in the last 6 league matches and all this despite the continuous emergency (Chiellini has been out for a month and he, Bonucci and Rugani have been absent at the same time in the last period, forcing Allegri to “invent” Danilo central , but also Alex Sandro and De Sciglio). The set-up changes (from three to four depending on availability and needs) but not the attitude: the department is solid and aggressive again, with an increasingly leading De Ligt. In Europe, from November to today, only Real has suffered less (8) than Juve (10).

The perfect number would be 33: these are the points available to Juventus between now and the end of the championship (11 matches are missing). If they all won, the bianconeri would close the season at 83, a figure that for Massimiliano Allegri is not enough to win the Scudetto. According to the Juventus coach, it takes 84-85 points to win the flag, net of other missteps from the three of the Ave Maria (Inter, Milan and Naples), which for the Livorno player are the only ones to fight for first place. Cheerful of positive streaks he knows: in the 2015-16 season he put in 31 consecutive useful results and went to take the title despite a disastrous start. Now he is at 13 and the calendar says that reaching 24 is not impossible: only one direct match and at the Stadium (with Inter on matchday 31) and Lazio (at home) and Fiorentina (away) in the last 2 days. In between, many affordable matches, starting with the match against Spezia next Sunday, then Sampdoria, Cagliari and Sassuolo away and Salernitana, Bologna and Venice at home. But watch out for the little ones, who as the Lady knows well can become insidious: Juventus will have to demonstrate in this season finale that they are cured of provincial pain, given that in the first round they lost to Empoli, Verona and Sassuolo and left precious points against Udinese and Venice. The moment is certainly positive despite the many absences: Allegri’s team has not lost for over 3 months (last defeat against Atalanta on November 27) and since then they have lined up 8 wins and 5 draws. After 13, Allegri goes straight to 14.

Victory for 1-0 on an own goal in injury time: in Florence it was the triumph of the cheerful little muzzle, which is one of the keys to the Juventus change of pace. Allegri has so far obtained 12 victories (over 27 days) with a single goal difference. The record of the last 8 seasons actually belongs to Maurizio Sarri, the least cortomusista of the coaches, who in his only Juventus season closed with 18 wins obtained with a single goal advantage. Max has always averaged between 14 and 17 short-nosed victories in the championship in the five championship years. Attentive defense, little ball possession, individual errors reduced to a minimum wage: this is how Juventus rediscovered that mix of suffering and cynicism that is typical of their coach. Max’s teams have always been more essential than brilliant, good at waiting and hitting surgically at the right moment. All this, however, was missing in the first part of the season, when Juventus often let themselves be caught up or mocked in the final. Now she is less wasteful and more resolute also thanks to Vlahovic, who brought that surplus of goals that the Lady was missing: the Serbian striker is not lacking in the nastiness in front of goal and every ball that happens to him is potentially a goal.