Allegri surprised at Milan lead

Massimiliano Allegri was pleasantly surprised to find his AC Milan team four points clear in Serie A after Juventus could only draw on Sunday.

Milan picked up maximum points with a 2-0 win at home to Lecce, while Juve were held 0-0 away to Genoa.

It was a fourth successive draw for the Turin club, leaving them second on the table, four points back from defending champions Milan.

“It was important for us to win today, as that would ensure the two-point advantage remained intact, but instead we have four points,” Allegri said.

Goals from Antonio Nocerino and Zlatan Ibrahimovic got the job done for Milan at San Siro.

Allegri stood by his decision to press on in search of a third goal despite leaving the back-line exposed to potential Lecce counterattacks.

“We did risk conceding an equaliser, as games do get complicated if you don’t finish them off, as we saw in London,” Allegri said, referring to Milan’s 3-0 loss in their Champions League round-of-16 second-leg tie to Arsenal on Tuesday.

After winning the first leg 4-0 at home, Milan survived last week’s defeat to progress 4-3 on aggregate.

But Allegri has still come under criticism for his team’s failure to keep Arsenal out in the return fixture.

“If we don’t score then we have to carry on playing and try to be more determined,” he said.

“You can’t always win when playing well, so sometimes you have to get points with the minimum effort.”

“Nobody seems to point out we played very well in the second half at the Emirates and had several scoring opportunities. It’s just a shame about the first half.”

Reports emerged last week of a dressing-room row between Allegri and Ibrahimovic, with the star striker allegedly unhappy about the coach’s tactics during the defeat to Arsenal.

But Ibrahimovic has since played down the rumours, and Allegri also dismissed them on Sunday.

“As for Ibra, thankfully these stories emerge every now and then, otherwise it gets boring,” he said.

“Nothing happened, as it’s normal there are discussions between a coach and his players.”