The coach of Juventus, Massimiliano Allegri, has denied that his squad is the favorite against Barcelona, which in his opinion is "the strongest team" in Europe "alongside Real Madrid", despite losing Neymar da Silva last summer.
"Neymar is, along with Paulo (Dybala), one of the strongest young players in the world, although both are very close to Messi and Cristiano. But Barcelona, anyway, is the strongest team alongside Real Madrid," he said at the pre-match press conference for the game his team will play tomorrow at Camp Nou.
This will be the twelfth time that the Italian coach faces Leo Messi, a player who "can change games at any time", so he has urged his players to face tomorrow's match with "a lot of calm and serenity".
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"When you face players like Iniesta, Messi, Suárez, Dembélé or Deulofeu, it is more difficult to mark them. Barcelona has started the season well and I repeat: they are the favorite team alongside Real Madrid to win the Champions League," he insisted.
However, in the last edition of the Champions League, his team managed to eliminate Barcelona, who failed to score in both the first and second leg of the quarter-finals.
"It is a night of great football and it requires a lot of enthusiasm. Tomorrow I am going to choose ten players, knowing that three games against Barcelona without conceding a goal is very difficult," he recalled.
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