Massimiliano Allegri felt Juventus “could’ve scored three or four in the first half” of the defeat to Manchester United, but “lost the least important game.”
Cristiano Ronaldo finally broke through with a spectacular volley after Sami Khedira and Paulo Dybala had hit the woodwork, but in the final minutes a Juan Mata free kick and set play that ricocheted in off Alex Sandro turned it around.
Massimiliano Allegri felt Juventus “could’ve scored three or four in the first half” of the defeat to Manchester United, but “lost the least important game.”
Cristiano Ronaldo finally broke through with a spectacular volley after Sami Khedira and Paulo Dybala had hit the woodwork, but in the final minutes a Juan Mata free kick and set play that ricocheted in off Alex Sandro turned it around.
“It’s a disappointing defeat, because the team played well. We need to improve our finishing, because we never manage to finish games off when we’re in control,” Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We knew with Marouane Fellaini on that we had to avoid giving away free kicks, but we’re doing that too much this season, giving away a lot of free kicks.
“The only way Manchester United were ever going to score was from set plays and we gave them the opportunities.
“Nonetheless, we are still top of the group. It’s understandable to have a win and a defeat to Manchester United, although probably not when you look at how the games actually went…
“I think it’ll do us good in the long run, as we need to learn not to fall asleep in these situations. I saw Manchester United play the same way in the Premier League at the weekend, they did very little for 80 minutes and then won in very similar circumstances.
“We had the chance today to secure the top spot early. I compliment my team for a good performance, but a good performance without a result isn’t worth very much.
“Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal was extraordinary, but we had so many chances. If we’d really gone for it, we’d have scored three or four in the first half alone.
“You can win or lose in football, the good news is we lost the least important game.”