Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has revealed that he was close to walking away from the club following their defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final earlier this month.
Having once again dominated domestically with their third consecutive league and cup double and an unprecedented sixth Serie A title on the bounce, Juventus suffered Champions League final heartbreak at the hands of a Spanish team for the second time in three years with their 4-1 loss to Madrid.
Allegri's future was uncertain heading into the match in Cardiff, but he has since signed a new three-year deal with the Turin outfit and has now set his sights on finally ending their wait for a third Champions League trophy.
"Everyone was wondering if I'd walk away if we won, and instead I was on the verge of doing it after the defeat. I had to think and above all to see what was inside me, to start again in the best way because this year will be a much harder year. After three seasons with Scudetti, Coppa Italia, Champions League finals and Supercoppa it's normal to look inside because at the limit there's the risk of collapse," he told Sky.
"Instead I decided quickly after, I spoke to the club and all the conditions are there to have a great season. It will be a challenge within a challenge, a challenge within ourselves where we have to improve the quality of our game. I never talked to anyone else, and I never made commitments to anyone, because the first club to have known everything was always going to be Juventus. I was immersed in our objectives and I was never interested in the future, I decided after the final.
"The main objective is the one which is in the DNA of Juventus, that is to say the Scudetto. After that come the Coppa Italia and the Champions League. I'd say that in the last three years Juventus have established ourselves well among the top eight teams, and [the Champions League] is an objective Juventus must pursue. Then in the Champions League you've seen that one year you can make the quarter-final, just as you can reach the semi-final or the final.
"The objective of getting there this year will be much more difficult though, because there are the five English teams, namely Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, [Manchester] United and Liverpool. They'll be aggressive competitors so we'll have to be ready. I understand the bitterness of not having won the final, having lost the second in three years, but you have to see the glass as half-full. We won another Scudetto, the sixth in a row, and that's legendary. We've won three Coppa Italia in a row and we've been in two Champions League finals."
Juventus have not won the Champions League since 1996.
Barney Corkhill
