Allegri buzzes between Juve and Inter as Serie A fight for second place

Massimiliano Allegri paid no attention to Juventus' Serie A points deduction as he said his side will face Inter on Sunday to 'defend second place'.

The Bianconeri were handed a 15-point deduction in January for financial irregularities, dropping them in the standings and facing them an uphill battle to secure Champions League qualification for next season.

Juventus sit seventh in the table, 10 points behind fourth-placed Milan, but Allegri sees things differently and sees the clash with Inter as a battle for second place.

His side would be second without their punishment, three points ahead of Inter but still 15 points behind runaway leaders Napoli.

"We are going to San Siro to defend second place," Allegri said at a press conference. “I will repeat it until exhaustion. We are second with three points more than Inter, five ahead of Milan, four ahead of Lazio and six ahead of Roma.

"If at the end of the year the team net of penalties will be sixth or fifth in the standings, then that means we haven't done well.

"We will take stock at the end of the season. There are definitely positives. We have five youngsters playing. We are still in the cups and need to get into the top four in the league. We also need to evaluate what we have done on the ground."

Allegri is under no illusions about the challenge of Sunday's clash at the San Siro, however, and wants improvements from Thursday's Europa League display, when Juventus won 2- 0 against Freiburg at 10.

"The team must do better than in the second half on Thursday night against Freiburg. We have to be aware that we are going to play against a team that is doing well at home," Allegri said.

"We have to do our best; it's a tough challenge tomorrow. We have to try to win these competitions with direct rivals. It will be difficult to close the gap in the league, but we must not forget that on the field we collected 53 points."