Coach Massimiliano Allegri bullish as Juventus edge out Monaco

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri insists his side will not be in the Champions League semi-finals just to make up the numbers after the Italian giants edged past Monaco on Wednesday evening.

The Serie A leaders played out a 0-0 second-leg draw at the Stade Louis II to win their quarter-final tie 1-0 on aggregate, Arturo Vidal’s penalty in Turin last week ultimately proving to be the difference.

While Juve have recovered from the Calciopoli scandal that rocked Italian football in 2006 to dominate again domestically in recent seasons, they have not been in the last four in Europe’s elite club competition since 2003.

The two-time European champions will therefore be the underdogs in Friday’s draw alongside holders Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, clubs who have 10 appearances in the semi-finals between them over the last four seasons alone.

But a bullish Allegri said: “We are not afraid. This was an important objective for us but not the final one.

“There would be no point in qualifying if we didn’t want to go even further. We will of course look to reach the final.”

In his first season in charge of Italy’s most successful club, Allegri has Juve on the brink of retaining the Serie A title, in the final of the Italian Cup and now they remain in with a chance of continental glory, 30 years after they won their first European Cup on the night of the Heysel disaster.