Allegri demands Juve improvement

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri urged his team to learn their lesson despite booking a spot in the Coppa Italia final.

Despite holding a 3-0 lead, the Serie A leaders were pushed to penalties by Inter before winning the shoot-out 5-3 at San Siro on Wednesday.

Allegri said his men needed to learn from the tie, which appeared to be over at the halfway mark.

“Matches such as tonight’s ought to teach us that you can build a healthy advantage, but that does not mean the tie is over,” he said.

“We needed to cope better with this situation and recognise that, in football, you need to dig deep right up until the referee blows the final whistle in order to gain results.”

A double from Marcelo Brozovic and an Ivan Perisic effort saw Inter fight their way back into the tie.

But Rodrigo Palacio missed his spot-kick in the shoot-out and it proved to be decisive.

Despite his side’s performance, Allegri was predictably delighted to move into the final against AC Milan.

“Inter really went for it tonight and we didn’t deal well with the pressure they put us under,” he said.

“For 70 minutes we didn’t look like scoring, then we began to pose a greater forward threat and, in stark contrast to the start of the match, we ended up having numerous chances to net the winner.”