- Juventus boss Max Allegri has revealed why Cristiano Ronaldo failed in his bid to lead the Italian champions to Ajax win
- Max Allegri also made public his resolve to remain with the club as plans are underway for a meeting to discuss the future
- The result sees giant-killer Ajax added Juventus to their hit list
Juventus manager Max Allegri has explained the reason why Cristiano Ronaldo failed to lead the Bianconeri to the semi-final of the Champions League.
According to the Mirror, the Italian tactician after dismissing claims that Juventus applied much pressure on the Portuguese superstar also confirmed he will be not be leaving the Allianz Stadium.
The Serie A champions were sent packing from Europe’s premier club competition after going down 2-1 at home to Ajax.
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Despite netting the opening goal of the contest Ronaldo failed in his quest to claim four Champion League silverware back-to-back.
Responding to a question bothering on Juventus players leaving the qualification job for Ronaldo alone, Allegri dismissed such claims, stressing that from the quarterfinal stage, the UCL is unpredictable were everything can happen.
“No, absolutely not. Ronaldo has given us a lot over the course of the campaign, but when you reach the quarter-final, you need every player.
“I’ve always said that to win the Champions League, you need to reach a certain stage in good form and with good fitness levels.
"We’ve been in a bit of an emergency situation for a while and that can only be sustained for so long.
“We were missing four or five players tonight. Daniele Rugani and Leonardo Bonucci had good games for 50 minutes or so, but we lost our unity and organisation, giving Ajax the advantage,” Allegi noted, even as he was quick to reveal his future plans.
“I told the President that I will stay. We'll sit down with the club and think about the future," he said.
“When you reach the quarter-finals, it’s better to have as many options as possible, because these ties are decided by details, substitutions and options off the bench.
“We had a lot of players struggling with fitness issues and the two legs were only a week apart. We had a young player like Kean in the second half, but there’s a knock-on effect, as it allowed De Jong more time on the ball and Ajax took control.
“There are many young players in the squad who need to play and gain experience. Some might’ve paid at having two such big matches in the space of a week.
“We did well in the first half, less well after the break. The first leg was more balanced than this evening, of course.
“I was convinced we’d have a different second half, but that wasn’t the case. We have to tip our hats to Ajax and give them credit for an extraordinary second half performance.
“Let’s not forget, this team was in the Europa League Final a couple of years ago. Our problem was we split open and didn’t have the patience to play our game, considering the options we still had to come off the bench.”
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“We had done well in the first half, albeit a little too frenetic when we won back possession. Football is vicious, as you concede a fortuitous goal, the fear sets in, we got stretched out in the second half and should’ve had a different approach.
“Ajax fully deserved their result and qualification to the semi-finals,” Allegi summed up.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal was not enough as Juventus suffered a 1-2 home defeat against Ajax on Tuesday, April 16, in the reverse fixture of their Champions League quarter-final tie.
The encounter at Allianz Stadium saw Ajax come from behind to beat Juventus on the night and progress to the semifinals on a 3-2 aggregate win.
Ajax made an early substitution, with Daley Sinkgraven replacing Nossair Mazraoui in the 6th minute after the later suffered a knock.
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