Allegri: Atalanta game important, but not decisive

Having returned north from Naples with some positive signs shown but without points, Juventus will be looking to start afresh at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday evening as Atalanta visit.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri spoke ahead of the Nerazzurri's visit, and he didn't play down the importance of the game in his pre-match press conference, describing it as an "important, but not decisive" clash.

Below we've picked some of the best bits of the coach's pre-Atalanta press conference.

ATALANTA WON'T BE TIRED

"They played a well in the Europa League [against Sporting CP] a few days ago, but they won't be tired. They have a good squad and they know how to manage periods like this. They are a technical team, but physical too, so we will have to play well. We haven't won against them at home for a few seasons."

NO WORRIES

"I am not worried. If anything, I am disappointed because we did not get many points in February. Even at Napoli we showed some positive signs but in the end we came home with nothing. We need to turn this trend around. We have 11 league games left, plus two - hopefully three - Italian Cup games, we are fully in contention to reach our targets and now all our energy must be focused on those.

"It will not be a decisive game tomorrow, but still important. Now the points start to weigh that bit more and because Atalanta are also in the running for a top-four finish. We need to read the phases of the game in the right way and improve when we defend, because we have conceded too many goals lately."

TEAM NEWS

"[Weston] McKennie is available and he is fine, he will play from the start tomorrow. [Moise] Kean has recovered even if he does not have 90 minutes in him just yet, [Adrien] Rabiot should be back in the week. We are disappointed about [Carlos] Alcaraz's injury, but we have the right team to take the field tomorrow and get a result.

"It is normal for our young players to go through ups and downs, it is part of their growth, there's nothing to worry about there. [Kenan] Yildiz has been training well in the last few weeks."