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Attendance: 40,069
Juventus logo
Serie A | Gameweek 17
Dec 22, 2018 at 7.30pm UK
 
Roma logo

1-0

Mandzukic (35')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Allegri demanding even more from table-toppers Juve

Allegri demanding even more from table-toppers Juve
© Reuters
The reigning title holders are the winter champions as they hold an eight-point lead over Napoli.

Topping the table at Christmas means very little to Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri, who wants six more points on the board before the new year arrives.

Juve restored their eight-point lead over second-placed Napoli by beating Roma 1-0 in Turin on Saturday night thanks to a first-half goal from Mario Mandzukic, but the Bianconeri toiled fruitlessly in pursuit of a second goal to kill the game off.

Next is a trip to face Atalanta on Boxing Day, which is swiftly followed by next Saturday's home meeting with Sampdoria.

Allegri told juventus.com: "We haven't won anything yet. We are doing good things and we are the winter champions but we need to have picked up even more points as of December 29.

"The lads played well after the break and (Robin) Olsen made some good saves. Overall I'm happy, we put on a good show.

"We had to put a lot of pressure on Roma to make things difficult for them psychologically, and after we took the lead there were a few situations which we could have exploited better, but on the whole we did well, in both halves."

Juve captain Giorgio Chiellini rued the failure to get past Roma goalkeeper Olsen again after the break, with Cristiano Ronaldo experiencing the bulk of the frontline's frustration.

Chiellini said: "The strength of this team is not one player: whether that's me, or Cristiano, or Mario, but it's in the collective and we saw that tonight.

"In the second half we could have done a bit better when we were in possession in their half, we were struggling to counter-attack at times.

"We can get better, because we really needed to score a second goal. Games are played across the whole 90 minutes.

"We'll enjoy a few hours of rest and then it's on to thinking about Bergamo, where a tough game awaits us."

Roma head coach Eusebio Di Francesco, whose side are languishing down in eighth place due to inconsistent form, said: "In the first 45 minute we saw the same fear and insecurity of recent games.

"But after the break we overcame that: we battled with determination and used the ball a lot better."

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Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri pictured on November 27, 2018
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Atalanta BCAtalanta17131342192340
2Napoli17122326121438
3Inter Milan15104140152534
4Lazio1711153224834
5Fiorentina1594228111731
6Juventus17710028131531
7Bologna167722318528
8AC Milan167542516926
9Udinese166281925-620
10Roma175482323019
11Empoli174761619-319
12Torino175481722-519
13Genoa173771426-1216
14Lecce174491129-1816
15Parma173682333-1015
16Como163671828-1015
17Hellas VeronaHellas Verona1750122140-1915
18CagliariCagliari173591628-1214
19VeneziaVenezia1734101730-1313
20Monza171791523-810


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