Champions League rivals should fear Juventus – Allegri

REUTERS – All the teams that finished first in their Champions League group will want to avoid Juventus in Monday’s draw for the last 16, said coach Massimiliano Allegri.

Juve finished second to Manchester City in Group D and could come up against one of the three heavyweights, Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich.

Chelsea, Zenit St Petersburg, Atletico Madrid and VfL Wolfsburg are also possible opponents and Allegri said last season’s runners-up Juventus would be a threat to any team left in the competition.

“Last season we reached the final. From my point of view the other teams left in the draw should be worrying about facing Juventus and not the other way around,” he told reporters after his team beat Fiorentina 3-1 on Sunday to climb to fourth in Serie A.

Juve are six points adrift of leaders Inter Milan after 16 matches and Allegri believes his side have a mountain to climb to retain their domestic title.

“The race is on for us now to amass enough points across the rest of the season to finish first, second or third,” he said.

“We’ve still got plenty to do.

“Inter are in excellent form at the moment and they, for me, are still the favourites. To catch up with them we’ve got to produce an extraordinary comeback.”

(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdynia; Editing by Tony Jimenez)