Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was magnanimous in defeat after seeing Fiorentina leave the Juventus Stadium with a valuable 2-1 win in the first-leg of their Coppa Italia tie.
Fernando Llorente had cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s opener but the Bianconeri were unable to find an answer to the Chelsea loanee’s second as Juventus lost at home for the first time since April 2013.
“We knew we had to face a Fiorentina in a great moment of form,” Allegri told Rai after the match.
“The first half saw both teams perform to a high level, but in the second half we lost our shape and then we conceded the second goal.
“We could have equalised, but Fiorentina were the better side and deserved to beat us.”
Juventus are fighting on two further fronts with a nine point lead at the top of Serie A and their Champions League last 16 return leg away to Dortmund in a two weeks time; however, Allegri refused to use their busy schedule as an excuse.
“We had time to prepare for this tie,” said the 47-year-old.
“Now we turn our intentions to an important league match at the weekend [with Sassuolo] and then we will prepare for the other matches.
“Serie A is not over yet, as everyone else thinks, while Europe is still our a dream and we will try to move forward.
“We are fighting to win all we can and, with all due respect to Fiorentina, we can go and win there”
