Massimiliano Allegri was smiling during the press conference on the eve of the Serie A match against Juventus. He had sweet words about Pato: “We didn’t have to wait to see Pato get some goals, because he’s never had problems with scoring. About a month ago he changed his attitude, now he’s more serene. He was out for a long time due to injury and when a player is fine psychologically, everything is easier also from a physical-technical point of view. But this is and must be only the beginning for him. There is no rule saying that a youngster like Pato, who has great physical and technical abilities, goes through the same development process as another lad of his age, especially if you consider his injury woes. In the last one and a half months, after finding serenity and joy again in what he does, he has been able to give his best.”

On the match against Juventus, he said:Obviously, every game we play is more and more important as the end of the season is nearing, seeing that only eleven matches are left to play. At this point, the result of the game tomorrow can be decisive regarding the title race. For them, winning would be important to get closer to a Champions League berth. They’re a physical team and have a strong character, apart from being gifted technically. They’re dangerous on set-pieces and when a team is like a wounded animal like them at the moment, they will definitely play a great game. We’re doing well and have the objective to get a good result. We would commit a huge error, if we lowered our guard now; eleven games are left to play and we always have to make sure we have the chance to win the game at hand. Juventus did well against us in the autumn as they took advantage of our mistakes. However, we played a great game too, and created more chances than them. So in the end I left the stadium with a bitter taste in my mouth, I think we deserved more. The Bianconeri did well against Inter as well, leaving the Nerazzurri empty-handed; at Lecce they went down to ten men after ten minutes, while last week they were a bit unlucky in the first half, then Bologna had two chances and took both of them to make Juventus pay. In order to get a good result in Turin, we’ll have to play a great game. The championship is still long and we have to take one match at a time. It won’t be easy tomorrow, also because Juventus have always done well against the top five, as statistics suggest.”

On his first season at Milan: "“I consider myself lucky, because this year the club had great transfer campaigns and I found a dressing room with a core of players who had won a lot. We are highly motivated to win something this season. I was lucky to come to Milan at a time when the club made heavy investments in the transfer market. In order to stay at Milan for a long time and win, you need moral values and intelligence, apart from being at a certain technical level. This team has these values, our success proves it. You don’t get wins by coincidence. If you’re successful, it’s down to your technical and moral qualities. As for me, I’m very proud to be at the top of the league with this group of players, representing this club. Now the difficult thing will be keeping the top spot until the end of the season.”

On the Champions League match against Tottenham: "I think we have very good chances to beat them".