Soccer Football - Serie A - Juventus v Cagliari - Allianz Stadium, Turin, Italy - November 11, 2023 Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri REUTERS/Massimo Pinca
(Fixes spelling to 'Massimiliano' in first paragraph)
(Reuters) - Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri is wary of a "complicated" trip to face mid-table Monza later this week after losing both home and away to them in Serie A last season.
Juventus remained second after Sunday's home 1-1 draw with leaders Inter Milan, taking the lead through Dusan Vlahovic before Lautaro Martinez equalised.
Trailing Inter by two points after 13 games, Allegri said Juve's focus was on consolidating their place in the top four going into December. They face ninth-placed Monza on Friday.
"On Friday we go to Monza, a team that took six points from us last season and against whom we didn't score, so it will be a complicated match," he told reporters.
"The objective is to conquer one of the top four places in the table, with this draw we maintain the nine-point margin over fifth place."
Allegri was pleased Vlahovic was on the score sheet against Inter, the Serbian forward scoring for the first time since September's brace against Lazio.
"Vlahovic played one of his best games since arriving at Juventus, on a technical level... I'm very happy and even though he hadn't scored for two months, he always gives everything."
(This story has been refiled to fix the spelling to 'Massimiliano' in paragraph 1)
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
