Christmas is cancelled at Juventus as Allegri aims for strong end to 2018

Cristiano Ronaldo and his Juventus team-mates will have to forego the traditional Christmas feasting this year, as coach Massimiliano Allegri looks to finish 2018 with a bang on the pitch. 

Juve have been in imperious form ever since the new season kicked off, winning 12 and drawing one of their first 13 Serie A games to race to the top of the table in Italy. 

In the Champions League too, the Bianconeri qualified with ease for the last 16 with a game to spare, winning four games out of five so far with just a solitary defeat at the hands of Manchester United. 

Allegri is nevertheless keen to make sure his team keep up that wonderful run of form, and he is especially wary about a trip to Atalanta on December 26, one day after Christmas. 

“The thing that’s a bit strange is that we’ll go to Bergamo on December 25," the coach explained to reporters on Friday. 

"We’ll be training on the 24th and 25th, so we’ll try to eat as little pandoro (sweetened bread, a traditional Italian Christmas treat) as possible.

“Not least because it’s cold in Bergamo on December 26 and we risk stuffing ourselves. If we eat too much we risk being bloated so we’ll try to avoid it, for the sake our our health.

“But before we get there we need to sort things out with Inter, Fiorentina, and then Torino, which is the derby and always complicated.”

Despite enjoying an eight-point advantage over Napoli at the summit, moreover, Allegri will not relax until a potential eighth successive Scudetto for Juve is assured.

“Scudetti are won in May, the Champions League in June. We need to keep going with balance, without getting carried away by these results, so we can arrive in March in the best physical and, above all, mental condition," he added.

“We know Napoli and Inter are always there, because we still need to play Inter twice and Napoli once. There’s a big difference between three points and one point, and it’s in those moments you can throw away a lead.

“We work, and we’re aware that tomorrow is an important round because we, Napoli and Inter are playing difficult games.

“Then the next one will be important too, because to win the league you need a certain number of wins. Our objective is to be top of the table on December 29, hopefully with a big points advantage.”