Juventus Boss Max Allegri Calls for VAR Following Cristiano Ronaldo's Red Card
Following an incident-packed night which saw Juventus overcome Valencia with a 2-0 victory on matchday one in Champions League Group H, Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri has called for UEFA to install VAR after Cristiano Ronaldo was controversially sent off.
In a scrappy match which was full of drama and big decisions, Juventus' quality and experience prevailed over their Spanish counterparts, with a brace of Miralem Pjanic penalties securing the three points for the Serie A champions.
Juventus were made to work for the result, however, particularly after Cristiano Ronaldo had been sent off after just half an hour of the match, and Allegri was critical of the decision to send off Ronaldo, insisting that the use of VAR would have reversed the decision.
"Ronaldo's sending off brought up the tension, and it was not easy to play here," Allegri told Sky Italia. "I can only say that VAR would have helped in a situation like this.
"Now we hope to reduce his [Ronaldo's] suspension as much as possible."
Aside from the disappointing nature of losing Ronaldo on his Champions League debut for his new club, Allegri also noted the wider implications the red card could have had for Juventus in the match, with the score level at 0-0 at the time, and may yet have in the games to come with a suspension set to follow.
Via the Evening Standard, Allegri added: "Going down to 10 men in the Champions League for an incident like that is disappointing. We risked losing tonight with this and we'll miss him for the next games too."
The Italian coach was, though, impressed with the overall performance from his side against Valencia, aside from Ronaldo's dismissal, and pointed to the number of chances that his side had as an indicator that Juventus deserved the victory.
"The lads did really well, as we had numerous chances even before Ronaldo's dismissal, then we deservedly took the lead," Allegri insisted.
"It was only natural that towards the end we allowed Valencia some more room, but Szczesny didn't really have a save until the penalty in stoppage time."
