Following Saturday’s win over Frosinone, Juventus coach Max Allegri heaped praise on his strikers Dusan Vlahovic and Kenan Yildiz.
With Federico Chiesa ruled out by an injury, the Turkish teenager made his full debut, starting alongside Arkadiusz Milik in attack.
The 18-year-old broke the deadlock with a splendid finish after dribbling past three opponents in one fell swoop.
The Canarini then pulled off an equalizer in the second half through Jaime Baez. Nevertheless, Vlahovic entered the pitch to deliver a late winner after turning Weston McKennie’s cross goalwards.
Therefore, Allegri only had words of praise for his two scorers while insisting that his team has exceeded expectations by collecting 38 points before Christmas.
The manager notes that Juventus were up against a tough opponent and did well to return home with all three points.
“The team played a good match on a pitch where only Napoli had won,” said Allegri in his post-match interview as published by the club’s official website.
“It wasn’t easy and after an excellent first half in which we created a lot, we only scored one goal. In the second half, we dropped a bit and they immediately equalized while we should have done better to prevent it.
“Luckily we had a reaction and managed to achieve victory. I’m happy for both Kenan Yildiz and Dusan Vlahovic.
“We have recovered several players. There is an excellent spirit in the locker room and all the players who have come in have done well.
“We have exceeded the 38 points we had set as an objective. Now we’ll enjoy Christmas and then prepare for Roma.
“Let’s see on January 7th how many points we’ll have and we will understand how close we are to the Champions League quota, which remains our main objective.
“Starting on the bench reassured Vlahovic, after the criticism of the last matches. I knew that he could give us a hand in the last 30 minutes and so he did. He is also growing mentally.
“Yildiz is very mature. With Federico Chiesa out of action, I decided to deploy Kenan because he’s his natural replacement,” concluded the Juventus manager.
