‘Nothing changes’ for Allegri despite Juve points deduction

Juventus’ Polish forward Arkadiusz Milik (2ndL) celebrates with teammates after opening the scoring during the Italian Serie A football match between Cremonese and Juventus on January 4, 2023 at the Giovanni-Zini stadium in Cremona. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP)

Massimiliano Allegri said Saturday that nothing had changed for his Juventus team despite the Serie A club being hit with a massive points deduction for using transfers to artificially boost their balance sheet.

Juve were docked 15 points by the Italian Football Federation on Friday evening, pushing them down from third to 10th in Serie A and greatly compromising their chances of making next season’s Champions League.

Allegri’s team face Atalanta on Sunday night 12 points from the top four as the season reaches its halfway point, and the coach tried to deflect questions on the impact Friday’s ruling would have on their campaign, and players.

“We need to close the first half of the season in the best way possible, after yesterday we need to stay tight as a group, keep our heads down and work… we can only think about what happens on the pitch,” Allegri told reporters.

“Nothing changes, we need to get points, tomorrow will be difficult because Atalanta are playing well and in good shape… We need to take it one step at a time.”

Juventus said they would appeal the decision of the FIGC court to not just deduct points but also hand out a swathe of bans to the club’s previous leadership and current sporting director Federico Cherubini.

Cherubini was suspended for 16 months while former chairman Andrea Agnelli and ex-CEO Maurizio Arrivabene were both banned for two years while a 30-month suspension was given to former sporting director Fabio Paratici, now at Tottenham