Massimiliano Allegri has explained why he considers Real Madrid to be the favourites for this season’s UEFA Champions League.
The Juventus boss was speaking in the wake of his club’s 2-0 Serie A triumph over Udinese at the Allianz stadium on Sunday (h/t Goal) and was asked about who he would tip to win UEFA’s continental club tournament.
Real have struggled for consistency throughout this season, but have shown signs of recovery in recent weeks to ease the pressure on under fire manager Zinedine Zidane.
And, despite their form both domestically and in the Champions League, Allegri stated his belief that Real – alongside La Liga rivals Barcelona – were the teams he wished to avoid in the quarter final draw on Friday as he revealed why Los Blancos were favourites to retain the crown they won last term.
He said: “I hope to avoid both Barcelona and Real Madrid.
“I think Madrid are the favourites to win the competition. They’re focusing solely on the Champions League and there’s nobody else that deals with games in this competition like they do.”
Allegri (Juventus coach) “Real Madrid and Barcelona are the favorites to win the Champions League along with Bayern Munich, but that does not mean we do not have the ambition of doing so.” pic.twitter.com/Pgwtl2TIMG
— Barca Universal (@BarcaUniversal) 10 March 2018
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Barcelona are yet to book their passage into the last eight of the competition, and are currently being held 1-1 by Chelsea in their last 16 tie ahead of the return leg at Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Real, meanwhile, saw off Paris Saint-Germain over two legs with a 5-2 aggregate scoreline and Juventus stunned Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley 2-1 last week to secure a 4-3 victory over their two legged affair.
Allegri is right to want to avoid the Spanish and Catalan heavyweights after the duo were the teams his Juventus side faced in their last two UEFA Champions League final appearances.
I Bianconeri were beaten 3-1 by La Blaugrana during the 2015 edition of the final in Berlin, Germany before succumbing to a 4-1 defeat to Real last season at Cardiff’s Municipality Stadium.
Allegri and Juventus will be hoping for a kinder draw on the eve of this weekend as they look to win the title at the third time of asking.
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