Allegri: Scudetto not decided yet despite 16-point lead

Juventus is 16 points clear atop the table but Massimiliano Allegri said his team is not the champion yet.

Published : Mar 04, 2019 10:55 IST

Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri
Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri
lightbox-info

Juventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri

Massimiliano Allegri insisted Juventus is not the champion yet, despite opening a huge lead over Napoli at the top of the Serie A.

Juve took a giant step towards an eighth successive Scudetto by moving 16 points clear thanks to Sunday's 2-1 win at Napoli.

Miralem Pjanic and Emre Can put Juve on track for a hard-fought victory in Naples, where both teams finished the top-of-the-table clash with 10 men.

Juve remains undefeated after 26 matches, with 23 wins and three draws, but head coach Allegri said the Scudetto is not decided.

"As long as the maths don't give us the title, we have to keep winning our games," Allegri told reporters.

"I think we need at least five victories to claim the Scudetto. We won our two matches against them [Napoli].

"Now we have to think about beating Udinese, which will be very important going into the match against Atletico [Madrid in the Champions League]."

It was a dramatic encounter on Sunday after Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret was sent off in the 25th minute as he tried to win the ball ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pjanic scored from the ensuing free-kick before Can headed home Juve's second prior to half-time, though Napoli was given hope when the former was sent off at the start of the second half for a second yellow card.

Jose Callejon's 61st-minute goal set up a thrilling finish but Lorenzo Insigne was unable to complete the comeback for Napoli after his penalty hit the post with six minutes remaining.

"[It was] was a crazy match with various incidents that made it pretty messy," Allegri added. "The two best teams in the league were facing each other.

"Napoli have great technical skills and made it really difficult for us."

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment