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9 months ago
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January 28, 2024 - 8:00 am

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri won’t admit that starting Arkadiusz Milik over Kenan Yildiz was an ill-advised choice on his part.
The Turkish teenager proved himself to be the perfect foil for Dusan Vlahovic in recent weeks. But on Saturday, the manager decided to drop the 18-year-old in favor of Milik.
In hindsight, it panned out to be a costly call with the Pole receiving his marching orders following a studs-high challenge on Empoli striker Alberto Cerri.
The striker left his teammates with a numerical disadvantage for more than 75 minutes of play.
However, it appeared that the Bianconeri were going to escape with all three points when Dusan Vlahovic extended his goal-scoring run with a clinical finish early in the second half.
Nevertheless, the young Tommaso Baldanzi earned the Tuscans a valuable point with a clever strike.
Yet, Allegri defended his choice, suggesting that Milik was in good form while Yildiz was coming off a relatively underwhelming performance in Lecce.
“These are choices that we ought to make,” said the Juventus manager in his post-match press conference via JuventusNews24.
“Milik was in good form while Yildiz didn’t have a good game in Lecce. So I wanted to make him catch his breath. In fact, he did well when he entered in the second half.
“When a player puts five good displays in a row and receives praise in the newspapers, he tends to drop his guard down and that’s normal. This is how I analyzed Yildiz’s display against Lecce.
“Thus, I would make the same choice again, especially with Milik in good shape.”
“We needed physicality up front but these things also happen in football. We earned an important point tonight because these are matches that you risk losing.
“Then we made a mistake on the goal. Cambiaso slipped and the ball passed between the legs of Locatelli and Bremer.
“Football can be either good or bad. Tonight it was harsh on us. But then again, we can’t win every match in the league.
“We have to start working again from Monday and prepare for the wonderful match against Inter.”

 
 
