Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said on Tuesday that he expects a determined and aggressive Benfica, like German coach Roger Schmidt, in Wednesday’s match of the second day of Group H of the Champions League.
“Benfica is a club with a remarkable European history and is used to these matches. He comes from 11 wins in a row, he has a team made up of great players and a coach who gave them determination and aggressiveness”, said Allegri, at a press conference.
The 55-year-old Italian coach anticipated a “difficult and complicated” match against the isolated leader of the Portuguese First League, but ruled out that it could be decisive in such an early stage of the competition, despite having lost on his debut in the Real Madrid. Paris Saint-Germain stadium, 2-1.
“It is not a decisive game, but it is certainly very important. To win it we have to play well collectively, be solid and focused all the time, otherwise we can pay a high price”, he warned.
Unlike the team from Turin, ranked eighth in the Italian championship, Benfica alone leads the I League and won all 11 games they played in the 2022/23 season, including the four access to the Champions League, with Midtjylland and Dinamo of kyiv, also as his debut in the group stage, against Maccabi Haifa, 2-0.
“I wish I was in a different situation. [no campeonato], but we have time to improve. We have to find the balance. When we don’t score, we can’t concede goals either. The matches are long and we have all this time to win them, but sometimes we lose patience”, he pointed out.
Allegri expressed his satisfaction with the recovery of Ángel Di Maria, a former Benfica player, despite not confirming that the Argentine striker is the starter, hoping to continue counting on the Polish goalkeeper Szczesny, while defender Alex Sandro joined midfielder Rabiot and Locatelli in the unavailable list.
Absences in midfield, the composition of which the Italian coach will decide hours before kick-off, could lead to Brazilian defender Danilo being used in the midfield and the former FC Porto player has stated his willingness to play that role.
Danilo recognized the “importance” of the match, especially since Juventus lost the first in the competition, admitting that the team “needs to improve” its performance and “can’t wait to do it”, especially since it will face “a great opponent”. . , with several top players”.
“We need to win and, for that, we cannot make mistakes. We have the utmost respect for Benfica, which has players with a lot of experience, like [o defesa central argentino Nicolás] Otamendi and a new coach who transmitted his ideas very quickly,” he said.
The 31-year-old Brazilian international highlighted the “very high pace imposed by Benfica” and warned that Juventus cannot underestimate the Portuguese teams, because they have great intensity and are used to playing in the main European club competition.
Juventus hosts Benfica on Wednesday, in Turin, in a match from the second day of Group H of the Champions League, with arbitration by the German Felix Zwayer, starting at 8:00 p.m., at the same time that Maccabi Haifa and PSG begin to face each other in Israel.
Source: Observadora
