Allegri erupts as Cuadrado saves Juventus blushes
Massimiliano Allegri hailed an "important step forward" as jittery Juventus edged closer to a record sixth consecutive scudetto with a precious 1-0 win at Sampdoria on Sunday.
"This is an important step forward because we have a very difficult end to the season," Allegri said after a 24th win of the campaign moved the Turin giants 10 points ahead of Napoli, in second. Roma are a point behind in third before hosting Sassuolo later Sunday.
"It was important to win here because as soon as we come back we face Napoli.
"The lads played one of the best first halves of the year and in the second, although we had a few chances, we put ourselves at risk when it would have been far easier to tighten up."
A superb header from Juan Cuadrado on seven minutes gave Juventus the early advantage, until the loss of playmaker Paulo Dybala to a flexor muscle problem on 27 minutes changed Allegri's gameplan.
He replaced Dybala with Marko Pjaca, but Juve laboured for the remainder on their way to seeing former striker Fabio Quagliarella fire an overhead kick over Gianluigi Buffon's crossbar in the closing minutes.
Bruno Fernandes' volley had tested Buffon in the opening half while at the other end Christian Puggioni flew to fingertip Pjaca's angled drive around the post on the stroke of half-time.
If Allegri hoped for improvement, he was to be left disappointed by a messy second half.
Allegri's nerves were frayed on several occasions, notably when Kwadwo Asamoah, having provided Cuadrado's assist, panicked and lost possession while under pressure in the area.
After Luis Muriel threatened to send Patrik Schlick through on the left, Higuain overhit his pass for Cuadrado, who was replaced moments later by Mario Lemina.
Lemina's first task was to head clear a dangerous Quagliarella ball into the area, but Allegri erupted 12 minutes from the end when Dani Alves came off worst in a fair challenge with Vasco Regini.
The Juve coach said a little more aggression from his own players would not go amiss.
"We have to be a bit more committed, not let players get past us and try to be more organised," he added.
"Today we made only three or four fouls, while against Milan we suffered 21 and committed eight. We suffer a lot, but sometimes (committing) a foul can be useful."
Juventus beat Milan 2-1 in a fiery encounter last week.
Asamoah, again, had to scramble to recover under more pressure and Higuain was subbed five minutes from the end, Stephan Lichtsteiner coming on to move to the right of midfield.
Samp finished on a high, Quagliarella firing an overhead kick over before Luis Muriel was dispossessed from behind by Asamoah as he went on a promising run.
Allegri, though, refused to find fault with the Argentina striker or his side.
"Higuain was good, even though he didn't score," he said. "Overall, the lads played well, although a little bit more order would have prevented some jitters at the end."
Elsewhere, Lazio's Champions League hopes were dented by a scoreless draw at Cagliari that left Simone Inzaghi's men fourth but now five points behind Roma and six behind Napoli.
"The draw was a fair result," said Inzaghi. "We played worse than we have been playing and although finishing let us down, Cagliari played a solid game."
Fiorentina's hopes of Europa League football next season looked dead and buried, but after losses by Inter and Lazio La Viola are back in the hunt after a 1-0 win at Crotone courtesy of Nikola Kalinic's 90th minute winner.
Fiorentina remain eighth although Paulo Sousa's men are just seven points behind Inter.
Inter, held 2-2 at Torino on Saturday, sit fifth at two points behind Lazio but on the same points (55) as Atalanta, who cruised to a 3-0 home win against Pescara.
AC Milan's 1-0 win over Genoa on Saturday means the Rossoneri remain seventh at two points behind Atalanta and Inter.
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