Massimiliano Allegri has taken out time to applaud Cristiano Ronaldo's excellent display against Atletico Madrid, saying it was hard to believe that the Portuguese had netted only once in the Champions League this campaign, before Tuesday's hat-trick.
Ronaldo's performance on the night helped Juventus progress to the quarter-finals on a 3-2 aggregate.
"It's impossible to think Cristiano would only score one goal in this Champions League," Allegri was quoted as saying during a news conference moments after the game.
"He scored because he played well in the box and his team-mates worked well in the gameplay.
"A great match with an outstanding crowd supporting us and the players gave all Italian football fans a real show. That's the most important thing."
Interestingly, Juventus last won the Champions League silverware in 1996, and with Ronaldo's arrival in 2018 the Serie A champions emerged as favourites this campaign.
But Allegri insists Juventus is just one of the clubs contending for the Champions League top prize.
"Juventus is not the favourite to win the Champions League. We are one of the contenders and the trophy is one of our goals for this season, as usual," he said.
"If we were eliminated it would have not been a failure. Juventus every year must play the Champions League and today, I repeat, we get to the next stage. Because if you don't pass the round you don't have any chance to win. It is very simple.
"You don't need to graduate at Harvard to understand it - if you pass the group stage [you] have more chances, if not you play Europa League or watch the others from your sofa," Allegri submitted.
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