Football
ESPN staff 7y

Max Allegri: Juventus one step closer to Scudetto after beating Palermo

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said his team moved one step closer to winning Serie A with Friday's 4-1 win over Palermo.

Paulo Dybala scored twice with with Claudio Marchisio and Gonzalo Higuain also on target, as the result widened Juve's lead in the race for the Scudetto to 10 points ahead of the rest of the weekend's games.

Allegri was not happy with his team's first-half performance, but was pleased by the scoreline as Juventus closed in on their sixth straight league title.

"The lads ended the first half at 2-0 despite not playing well," Allegri told Mediaset Premium. "We had a good game, even if we granted Palermo a few too many shots from outside the box.

"It was a league match with three points which are just as valuable as the ones against Inter. It's one game less to winning the Scudetto and I congratulate the lads for the way they approached the game."

Allegri did have some encouraging words for Marko Pjaca's performance after criticising the winger's efforts before the match.

"He has to improve with experience," the coach said. "He has great quality, but it's one thing to play in the Croatian league, where the difficulties are smaller, and another to play in Serie A.

"In the Italian League he needs to grow in terms of personality. He did well in the first half."

Allegri then looked ahead to Juventus' Champions League test on Wednesday, when they will face Porto in the round of 16.

"We're in good physical condition, we face this tie with enthusiasm and we hope to go through," he said, adding that he had not yet decided if Dani Alves or Stephan Lichtsteiner will be in the lineup.

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