The Juventus head coach lamented his team’s
loss, though praised the club’s fans for showing their appreciation of the Madrid star
Massimiliano Allegri said Juventus fans were right to applaud Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo for his stunning overhead goal in the Champions
League on Tuesday.
Ronaldo earned a standing ovation from the home
supporters after his wondergoal in Madrid’s 3-0 quarter-final first-leg win at 10-man Juve.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner broke the deadlock within three minutes before producing a moment of magic just past the hour-mark when
he sent a bicycle kick beyond a helpless Gianluigi Buffon in Turin.
Speaking to the media post-match, Juve head coach Allegri told reporters: “He has been the
best forward in the world in recent years. He has a clarity that nobody else has.”The fans showed class [by applauding]. Football is a show and when there is a moment like this
one, it is correct to applaud.
“The best two teams are Real Madrid and Barcelona because one has Ronaldo and the
other has [Lionel] Messi, which is a major advantage.”
It was a rematch of last season’s final, which Madrid won 4-1 in Cardiff, but Juve did not fare
much better this time around.
Juve responded well to Ronaldo’s early opener,unfortunate not to equalise prior to half-time, but
the Italian champions fell apart after the interval.Ronaldo added a second and Marcelo completed
the scoring, while Juve star Paulo Dybala was sent off for a second bookable offence.
It was Juve’s first loss in all competitions since November, and a first at home to Madrid in
Europe since 1962.
“Up until their second goal, we had defended very well and allowed Real very little,” Allegri said.”There was this misunderstanding and we were
made to pay. All three goals could’ve been avoided, really, but in these games if you don’t
have a little bit of luck and the opposition do, it becomes difficult.”Playing against Real Madrid and thinking of
keeping two clean sheets is just about impossible, so you have to try to score goals. The
team did well, Dybala had that chance, but Ronaldo scored with a half-chance. He has found
the net in his last 10 Champions League games,so it’s not a surprise.”The 3-0 result is disappointing, above all as
Sergio Ramos will be suspended for the second leg, so with 2-0 we could’ve had some hope.
We’ve got the Scudetto and Coppa Italia [final against AC Milan] to play for, so we’ll think about that from tomorrow.
“I have nothing to reproach my players, as we were up against the best centre-forward in the
world and paid for a few mistakes. We have to lift
our heads, think about the Serie A race and then go to Madrid to play our game.”
Futbalz 