Ronaldo deserves 'The Best', says Allegri
Aside from tipping him to win The Best award, the Juventus coach has tipped Ronaldo to score his first goal in Serie A tomorrow against high-flying Sassuolo.
Sassuolo have been the surprise team in Serie A having secured seven points in three games to put them in second place behind Juventus.
Tomorrow the two sides meet in Turin, and in the press conference ahead of the game, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was inevitably drawn into talk about Cristiano Ronaldo's goal drought. After three matches, the Portuguese has yet to record his first goal in Serie A, but his coach is confident he will find the net against Sassuolo on Sunday.
“I don’t expect more or less from him than the other games. He had a lot shots and didn’t score… okay, but we don’t have to be fatalistic. He has worked very well and I think tomorrow he will be unlocked and he will score one,” Allegri told the congregation of Italian press.
Ronaldo deserves 'The Best'
Asked his opinion on Fifa’s 'The Best' player of the year award, which this year is between Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah and Luka Modric, Allegri was candid on who he believed was deserved winner.
“Cristiano must win it because of everything he did last season,” he said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Modric, but without a doubt Ronaldo deserves the award.”
Media pressure on Paolo Dybala
Paolo Dybala played very little of Juventus’ opening three fixtures, but Allegri said the Argentinian international can expect more minutes as the weekly fixtures pile up.
“Nobody doubts his qualities, but on the field we can only play 11 players plus three [substitutes]. Now we’re going to play three times a week and there will be more space," he said.
"Dybala will earn a starting place, but he has too much pressure on him. If he plays tomorrow and doesn’t have a great game, you (the press) will destroy him."
Allegri also spoke about the possibility of rotating his team tomorrow with next Wednesday’s Champions League fixture against Valencia in mind. “It will be difficult for those who played two consecutive games with the national teams to play tomorrow, except [Blaise] Matuidi – he will start.”
