Juventus coach Max Allegri says Champions League tie with Villarreal will go down to wire

“It may need 120 minutes,” Max Allegri suggested, surveying the taut circumstances of the challenge facing Juventus this evening in Turin. The head coach of Juve could barely have hoped for a better start to the last-16 meeting with Villarreal three weeks ago, taking the lead in the first leg in Spain after less than 15 seconds. But he knew he was up against an expert in knockout football. The equaliser for Unai Emery’s team duly arrived, midway through the second half. Allegri and Unai Emery are old hands at the nip-and-tuck of late-stage European competition, with over 250 matches between them as managers in Uefa competitions. Both are in their current jobs having been repatriated, to restore a certain authority to their clubs. Emery, a Spaniard and a three-times winner of the Europa League while at Sevilla, was hired by Villarreal after what were often bruising stints at Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal. Back home, he answered expectations perfectly, Villarreal celebrating their first major trophy with victory, on penalties, over Manchester United in the Europa League final at the end of his first season. Allegri last summer returned to the Juventus he had left as Serie A champions in 2019. He travelled widely, while being extensively courted abroad over the next 18 months. But he was choosy about possible jobs, eventually persuaded to return to Turin. There he found a greater frailty at Juventus than when he had left them as winners, for the club’s eighth season in succession, of Serie A with a 11-point margin over the 2018-19 runners-up, Napoli. The following season, under Maurizio Sarri, they retained the title but held off Inter Milan’s title challenge only by a point. Last season, under Andrea Pirlo, Juventus scraped to fourth in the table only on the last match day. Performance levels in Europe diminished too, Sarri and Pirlo overseeing last-16 stage exits, against Lyon and Porto respectively. Allegri’s standards are higher. Twice during his previous, five-year term as Juventus manager, his Juve reached a Champions League final, silver medallists against Barcelona in 2015, and then second-best to Real Madrid two years later. Juve would be long-shots to match that, Allegri’s best finish in Europe’s principal competition, this season, but he insisted yesterday: “We should be aiming to win the Champions League.” And there is an ominous stealth about their recent form. The campaign started with some wobbles, but since November the only defeat in 20 matches has been the 2-1 loss in the one-off Italian Super Cup against Inter. Any aspiration to catch AC Milan at the top of the domestic table is still optimistic, given the seven- point gap, but the genuine fears that Juve might not finish in the top four – they were eighth in November – have receded. They sit five points ahead of fifth-placed Lazio. “We are breathing a different air,” said Allegri yesterday of the improvement in form, “and we have grown as a unit. That’s the impressive thing about this club. If something’s not right we adapt.” Quickest to adapt has been Dusan Vlahovic, signed in the January transfer window from Fiorentina, and scorer of the goal, on his Champions League debut, after 32 seconds at Villarreal . The Serbian has three already in six Serie A matches for his new club. “He will start against Villarreal,” confirmed Allegri, who will chose between Pablo Dybala, available after an injury layoff and Alvaro Morata as Vlahovic’s partner up front. Giorgio Chiellini, the 37-year-old club captain, is fit after a month out with a calf problem to reinforce the centre of defence, although his long-time partner Leo Bonucci is injured. Emery hopes his veteran central defender, Raul Albiol, 36, passes a fitness test this morning. “His presence is important for us, particularly in a game in Italy,” said Emery of Albiol, the former Napoli and Real Madrid warrior. “He’s dealt with these sorts of scenarios, risen to these sorts of occasions before and he makes us more sure of ourselves.” It was an acknowledgement that aura counts for something at this stage in the European Cup. Emery is conscious that, for all that they are holders of the Europa League, Villarreal, the provincial overachievers from a town of less than 50,000 inhabitants, are dwarfed in terms of historic status and silverware by Juve. “We want to be in the Champions League to stay there, not so that it’s a one-off,” he said. He agreed with Allegri that stamina may be a factor. “We will be competitive and we’ll be prepared for extra-time,” promised Emery.

Juventus coach Max Allegri says Champions League tie with Villarreal will go down to wire

Italian braced for epic struggle in last-16 second leg against Unai Emery's Spanish overachievers