<
>

Juventus manager Max Allegri says Serie A title 'absolutely not' yet won

Massimiliano Allegri says Juventus have "absolutely not" won the Serie A title following their 1-0 win over Sassuolo on Monday night.

Paul Pogba's late winner allowed Juventus to expand their lead to 11 points over second-placed Roma, but Allegri said nothing is decided with 12 games still to play.

"Absolutely not. There's a long way to go, we need to be calm and balanced, there's no rush," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia. "We have a series of games coming up in Serie A, the Champions League and Coppa Italia.

"The Scudetto is the primary objective, the Champions League is a dream and in the Coppa Italia we'll see if we can be good enough to turn it around."

Juventus struggled to find a breakthrough until the 82nd minute when Pogba smashed a goal on the volley after juggling the ball into the penalty area.

"Sassuolo worked hard and pressed us in the first half, but we were also too determined to go through the middle," Allegri said.

"As time went on, we moved the ball around quicker and played with greater intensity. I like 1-0 wins, as they keep you on your toes and tactically I thought the lads did well."

After an hour, Allegri introduced Simone Pepe for Roberto Pereyra and switched to a 4-4-2 formation.

"I was trying to open up the play, especially with Pepe who is excellent on crosses for Fernando Llorente. On the other side, Pogba could give more width with Carlos Tevez and then move into the box.

"The lads did pretty well, though in some circumstances we were too hasty and the midfielders wandered around, leaving few reference points for our defenders.

"Alvaro Morata is good at being a centre-forward, but today went a bit too wide and was hardly ever in the box tonight. He did good things, but outside the penalty area."

But Allegri declined when asked if he would consider moving Pogba up behind the strikers.

"I think he'd struggle there, but I could be wrong," Allegri said. He has these long legs and needs a bit of space to get running, so there's a lot of traffic in that area.

"For example, with no space between the lines, Pereyra struggled in that position this evening."