Allegri Loses Cool With Journalist After Juventus Draw Against Nantes in Europa League

• Italian giants Juventus continued to endure a difficult season on and off the pitch
• The Bianconeri dropped to the Europa League after coming third in their Champions League group
• The first leg of their Europa League tie ended in a draw which led to head coach Massimiliano Allegri venting at a journalist

Juventus's season continued to be turbulent as the Bianconeri surrendered their early lead against French club Nantes to draw 1-1 in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 play-offs at the Allianz Stadium.

They face the second leg next week in France as they hope to get the better of their opponents and proceed to the competition's quarter-final to help overshadow their problems off the pitch.

The club's major problem is their 15-points deduction given to them by the Italian federation (FIGC) over financial irregularities during the COVID-19 financial year, as reported by ESPN.

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Allegri snaps at journalist

Massimiliano Allegri faced the press conference after the game, and a journalist got on his nerves by claiming he set his team up to win by a lone goal, which didn't sit well with the Italian.

''I never said I wanted Juve to win 1-0. You drive me crazy with this rubbish. It’s this cliche that I want my teams to win 1-0, but that is not accurate, he said, as quoted by Mirror UK.

''It’s simple, look at all the statistics of my teams. I always had the best defence and the second-best attack. You cannot escape from the statistics. Look at Milan and Juventus; that is my record. My teams always scored 70-80 goals per season.''

He further schooled the press on how numbers work in football, how what matters is a win, and the unfair nature of trying to use controversies to get stories.

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''You lot chat about nothing. I talk about numbers, that is the problem. I know you have to sit there and talk about nothing to fill time, but I don’t. You imagined this, created the story and then keep spreading it,'' he said.

''In football, there is just one thing that counts: winning games. It doesn’t matter if it is 1-0 or 5-0. Nonetheless, the fact remains my teams always had the best defence and second best attack.''

Nantes striker loses 5-year-old daughter

Sports Brief earlier reported that Nantes striker Ignatius Ganaga lost his five-year-old daughter ahead of the Europa League match against Juventus.

The club excused the Cameroonian, who turned 24 yesterday, to return home and be with his family after the unfortunate incident.

His teammates paid tributes to him after their draw yesterday. It remains to be seen if he will be back for the second leg in France, as no timeline was put on his return.