Juventus Boss Massimiliano Allegri Confident About Future Despite Painful Defeat to Lazio

Massimiliano Allegri was more positive than expected after Juventus suffered a painful 1-2 defeat to Lazio on Saturday afternoon. 

Speaking to Sky Sport Italia, the former AC Milan coach appeared confident about his team's future in Serie A: "We still have not figured out how to keep the concentration up all the time. Despite a good first half, we were not at our best also because of most of the players had just returned from their national duties.

"The team played well aside from those eight minutes in which they blacked out and suffered two goals." 

Should Napoli win against Roma, they will have a five-point lead and will get closer to winning their second title. However, Allegri did not look particularly worried: "It's still a long way. There are still plenty of points to be won as well as two head-to-head games with Napoli. 

"In football, it is crucial to work hard and make fewer mistakes. We must come back down to earth. Two years ago we were 12 points behind the league leaders and we still won the Scudetto." 

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Juventus lost their first home game in Serie A since August 2015. "After all these years winning at the Allianz Stadium, losing one game is more than fair he continued. Being defeated like this can only make Juve reconsider certain things."

Asked to give an explanation to his decision to leave Juventus starlet Paulo Dybala on the bench, Allegri blamed the player's recent international duty with Argentine: "Paulo landed back to Italy looking moribund, tired. Yesterday he only trained for a short time so I decided to make him rest."

As the Bianconeri prepare for Wednesday's clash against Sporting in the Champions League's third group stage match, Allegri will certainly have a lot to learn from this defeat.