Massimiliano Allegri has suggested that Ajax have been lucky in the Champions League this season and that there have been “moments when everything goes right”.
The Dutch side have been a revelation in Europe’s premier club competition this season, first knocking out Real Madrid at the last-16 stage before dumping Juventus out in the quarter-finals.
Juve head coach Allegri thinks they’ve been fortunate at times in this season’s competition, however, pointing to some of the players that were missing from his starting XI for the 2-1 defeat to the Dutch side on April 16.
He Sky Sport Italia: “In the Champions League there are moments when everything goes right, Ajax faced us without us having five players.
“Then they go to London and they [Tottenham] were missing the [main] striker [Kane], and the other striker [Son] is banned. After 15 minutes the central defender [Vertonghen] gets injured…”
Allegri also discussed Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Barca, believing that the Catalans have better players than their opponents that ultimately made the difference on the night.
He added: “Liverpool had three big scoring chances [against Barcelona], but Barcelona had four and scored three. Why? Because their players are of a higher level and make the difference in certain situations.
“Barcelona has players accustomed to that level and they proved it on the night, regardless of whether Liverpool had a good game or not. It’s like a race. Everyone can run the first 900 metres but very few can run the final 100.”