Allegri thinks Juventus can’t compete

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri says that it almost impossible for the Italian club compete with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid for the Champions League title. Despite having won three successive league titles under the management of Antonio Conte, the club was not able to make significant inroads into the Champions League. Juventus are regarded as one of the most successful Italian clubs of all-time, but they just two Champions League titles to their name. In contrast, the likes of AC Milan have seven titles.

Even when Conte was in charge of the club, they made it clear that the Champions League was their main priority after winning the league in succession. However, they were knocked out at the group stages last season. This was seen as a major disappointment for Conte after having dominated Italian football. It also showed to some extent the decline of Italian football when compared with the likes of Spanish and Germans. Allegri comes with big shoes to fill at Turin, but he says that those shoes will not be filled with the Champions League trophy.

This is because he reckons that clubs like Madrid and Barcelona, who have spent in excess of £ 200 million combined, will be on a different level compared to Juventus, who only just managed to hold on their star asset Vidal.

“I had an agreement with the club that we would only strengthen the team with players who could really add something. We eventually didn’t sign anyone else, but that wasn’t because we didn’t want to strengthen. It’s because there are big clubs out there with a different budget than Juventus. It’s enough to look at what clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United have done this summer,” said the Juventus manager, who started the campaign with a 1-0 win over Chievo.