At the end of a disastrous campaign, it was only fitting to succumb to a defeat against a main rival in the final home fixture. On Sunday night, Juventus hosted Milan at the Allianz Stadium in a clash that was decided by a solitary goal from Olivier Giroud.
After the final whistle, Max Allegri paid tribute to his players who endured a challenging campaign on all levels.
The Bianconeri manager gives credit to his men who fought against the hardships and injustice suffered this season.
The Livorno native feels that he and his team have been robbed of a deserved Champions League qualification due to the 10-point deduction.
“After the match, I thanked the lads, they carried out an important season which should be closed with honour in Udine,” said Allegri in his post-match interview as reported by the club’s official website.
“A group without moral values and professionalism would not have scored even 50 points, we scored 69 and we came close to two finals – this is an objective fact that nobody can take away from us.
“There are years in which you give to football, and others in which it gets taken away from you. This year they took everything away from us, let’s hope that next year we’ll start better.
“Now we need to disconnect, quickly, and rest. Let’s honor the last match of the season in the best possible way, then we will make choices calmly.”
The manager insists that Juventus have many things to look up to ahead of next season, including a solid base and an exciting crop of young players.
“We have a solid base, and we’ve done well with our young players. When I came back I knew it would be difficult to win, but the ambition is always to win, so let’s start again with this in mind.
“Juve enjoyed a historic nine-year cycle, now we haven’t won in the last three.”
Juventus will end their campaign in an away fixture against Udinese next Sunday.
