Allegri says Juve ready for Messi, but the pressure is all on Barcelona

In his gritty Tuscan way, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has a plan for how to play next Saturday night's Champions League final in Berlin against Messi and Barcelona.

Speaking to the world’s press at a pre-final media day at the Juventus stadium in Turin, Allegri said: “You do it, He added: “You have to prepare well to get it right but, after that, incidents, moments in the game can decide things. They are a quality side but so are we ... My team is one of great character and great technique and it is a team which has improved a lot.”

OK, that sounds good but what will he do about Messi?

“You have got to be good and be ready for him because we all know his qualities.

“It is basically impossible to mark him out of a game so you have to work things well around him. . . . Remember, though, they also have Neymar, Suarez and above all Iniesta . . . . But you have got to take your courage in your hands, knowing that you will have difficult moments, but you will also have good moments too.

“They play a football that no other side in the world plays and they have two players, Messi and Neymar, who are very different . . . It is not that we’ve got to do extraordinary things, it is rather that we have got to keep it tight and eliminate their best qualities.”

Put another way, Juventus are getting ready for the classic, tight-marking Italian game in which they will do their best to make sure Messi and Neymar see as little of the ball as possible.

Curiously, if there is one dominant sentiment within the Juventus camp on the eve of this weekend’s final, it is almost one of relief. Firstly, there is a sense of huge satisfaction at having got this far in a season when few pundits last September would have named them as likely finalists.

Pressure

Secondly, and Max Allegri is certainly not saying this out loud, the pressure is all on Barcelona and Messi. Juventus are basically in a wonderful “nothing to lose” situation in a final in which many pundits would put their money on the Catalan giants.

Allegri said: “For us to play our last game of the season in a Champions League final, in a year when we have won the Italian title and the Italian Cup is fantastic, it gets the adrenalin flowing so that you don’t have to worry about who you are playing ... Not just us but all Italians are looking forward to the game”

That "nothing to lose" sentiment was also reflected by Juve's experienced international midfielder, Claudio Marchisio. Asked how he would prepare for Saturday's game, he said: "We're very happy because we're going to play a Champions League final against a great team, we're happy to have got to the final and now we're going to enjoy this week . . .. This is a moment that all players dream of."

Marchisio also had good words for his team-mate, Argentine striker Carlos Tevez, the man who walked out of English football in especially bad odour after some spectacular disagreements with the likes of Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Roberto Mancini at Manchester City.

Bad reputation

“From the moment that Tevez arrived with us, he helped us make a leap forward,” said Machisio. “Perhaps he came with a bad reputation, that of a player who creates problems but ever since he has been here, he has been a willing, key part of this group . . .. not just on the field but also in the dressing room.

“ He is a fundamental player for us and I hope he can be decisive on Saturday night.”

Asked about the possibility of a penalty shoot-out, given that Juventus won a Champions League final (against Ajax in 1996) and lost one (against AC Milan in 2003) in shoot-outs, Allegri again struck a practical note, saying: “A final like this can always go to a shoot-out and we will prepare ourselves for that butI don’t think this game will go to a penalty shoot-out.”

Whatever way it goes, there is no denying that the Italian champions, in the wake of the Calciopoli matchfixing scandal of 2006 which saw them relegated to Serie B, see next Saturday night’s final as a welcome return to the top table of European club football.

You sense, though, that having got back to the top table, their hunger (and the sort of good luck that they have enjoyed throughout this Champions League run) could see them go all the way, Messi notwithstanding.