Juventus suffered their first league defeat since October after a shock 1-0 loss against Parma.
The club are very close to sealing yet another league title after having extended their superiority in recent weeks. However, this defeat comes as a major setback ahead of the crucial Champions League matches which start in a few days. Juventus will be taking on Monaco in the Champions League quarter-finals and it gives the Italian outfit a great opportunity to reach the semifinals. As strong as Monaco have been to eliminate Arsenal from the competition in the previous round, they are seen as inferior to Juventus.
The defeat certainly robs the team of some confidence ahead of the crucial home match and this infuriated manager Massimiliano Allegri. The former AC Milan boss slammed his players for the inefficient performance. He was especially unhappy with the way his team performed in the second half. The criticism may appear unwarranted given that Juventus have a 12 point advantage over second placed Roma, but this criticism largely appears to have come as a result of the Champions League match being in close quarters. The first leg at home against Monaco will be a crucial deciding factor in Juventus reaching the semifinals.
“We didn’t do anything in the second half and deserved the defeat.I hope this can give us a shake-up, but we shouldn’t really need that. We had the chance to stay 14 points clear of Roma and Lazio, but we weren’t up to it today.Parma played very well. We were too slow and risked conceding on three or four of their counterattacks. We didn’t control the game. Even in the first half Parma posed a danger,” said Allegri, whose team are still strong favourites to win the league title with relative comfort in the final few weeks of the campaign.