Allegri relieved as Juventus reach Coppa final despite Lazio defeat

Juventus coach Max Allegri admitted relief after reaching the Coppa Italia final.

Juve were beaten 2-1 by Lazio on Tuesday night, but won the semifinal 3-2 on aggregate.

It was a game of suffering, we knew that it would be, especially after conceding a goal straight away from a set play," Allegri told Sport Mediaset.

We had a few more chances with Vlahovic and Bremer, risked capitulating on the stroke of half-time too, but we then improved physically and had a good second half. It was not easy, because going behind so early into the second half on a counter-attack, these lads could've crumbled.

It's never easy to reach a Final, in the last three years we have played two Coppa Italia Finals. Now we must concentrate on Serie A, as we have not yet achieved Champions League qualification and this weekend it's the head-to-head with Milan."

He added: "At this moment, the games at Juventus mean a lot and these are matches that for various reasons over the last year and a half we did not play. It was not an ideal situation last year, with many things happening off the field.

This season we were fighting, well not fighting, but being up there with Inter until January and then we collapsed. The last couple of months have had a lot of pressure, we picked up few Serie A points, but still have the opportunity to lock down this Champions League spot and have reached the Coppa Italia Final."