Allegri: Juventus must target Champions League next season

Massimiliano Allegri insists Juventus must target winning the Champions League next season as they close in on a fifth successive Scudetto. 

A Napoli loss against Roma on Monday would seal Juve’s status as Serie A champions following their 2-1 win over Fiorentina on Sunday. 

Allegri and Co. have now won 24 and drawn one of their past 25 league matches.

However, despite their dominance in Italy, Juve have failed to win a Champions League crown in almost 20 years, something Allegri wants to change. 

“Next year we must target winning the Champions League,” he said.

“It’s reductive to focus just on Serie A. It’s one of those competitions where one incident goes wrong and you don’t have time to recover.

“I believe that regardless of tactical systems, we have to improve our control of the ball when under pressure and in the lead. We mustn’t lose the ball in a banal manner, so that is what we need to work on in certain moments of the match.

“Otherwise we create excessive pressure on ourselves that can be avoided.

“We can improve the players we’ve got and help them reach maturity, as for example we were naive against Bayern Munich when in control of the situation.

“The club will focus on improving the squad, as it did last summer, bringing in young players with great technique.”

Allegri has one year to run on his contract at Juve but revealed he is close to signing an extension. 

“I will put pen to paper on a new deal during the week,” the 48-year-old added. “I am certain of staying here.

“It will happen in a few days. I agree with the plans the club have, because Juve work well and are always trying to put a side in place for the future.”