Turin: Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said the Italian champions will need more composure in the Champions League if they are to qualify from Group A following a 2-0 win over Malmo on Tuesday.
Carlos Tevez ended his five-year goal drought in the competition with a second-half brace to give Juve a precious 2-0 win over the Swedish champions here. But despite praising the Argentinian striker, Allegri admitted his frustration with Juve's failure to convert a string of chances. The 47-year-old Italian, who took over from Antonio Conte last month, said he expects a tough campaign in a group which also features Olympiakos and last season's beaten finalists Atletico Madrid.
Olympiakos caused an upset already when they claimed a 3-2 home win over the Spaniards.
“There are never easy games in Europe and before this game we knew Malmo would try to close us down as much as possible,” said Allegri.
“We got the points, but it was a moderate win. We missed a lot of chances to score goals. Fernando Llorente missed several chances himself and at times we were disorganised, especially in the first half.
“There are a lot of things we have to improve on. It's a balanced group and anything can happen. I don't think it will be easy for any team to come away from Malmo with the win, for example.”
Malmo, who battled through three knockout rounds to reach the group stages, played with plenty of heart but Age Hareide's men were outclassed at a near packed-out Juventus Stadium.
“We were very disciplined in the first half, we forced them into the corners as we'd set out to do,” said Hareide.
“But I think the difference was absolutely Carlos Tevez although Juventus are full of quality players."
The hosts took command from kick-off but went in for the half-time break frustrated with what was a poor return from a one-sided encounter after near misses, notably by Claudio Marchisio and Kwadwo Asamoah. Juve 'keeper Gianluigi Buffon's biggest challenge until then was to rush out and block Magnus Eriksson as the midfielder connected with a long punt from deep on the right.
Juve's frustrated fans were up out of their seats five minutes after the restart when Pogba's defence-splitting pass sent Stephane Lichtsteiner clear on the right only for the Swiss wingback to offer a futile pass to Tevez instead of shooting. But the match, and the stadium, finally burst into life on the hour.
Tevez's chip found Asamoah to the right of goal and when the Ghanaian responded with a cool backheel into the Argentinian's path he stepped in to drive the ball past the outstretched hands of Robin Olsen. He had not scored in the competition since hitting the net for Manchester United in a 2-2 draw with FC Porto at Old Trafford on April 7, 2009.
“It doesn't matter I wasn't scoring in the Champions League," Tevez told Sky Sports after the game.
“The important thing is we won tonight and took the points.”
Juve then missed a raft of chances to put the game well beyond reach. Lichtsteiner, with a bouncing header, and then Llorente denied twice by an alert Olsen saw chances go begging before the Spaniard made way for his young compatriot Alvaro Morata in the closing minutes.
When Morata won a freekick on the edge of the area, Tevez stepped up to curl the ball inside the far post to secure his brace on 90 minutes.
“He played really well tonight, especially in the second half,” Allegri said of Tevez.
Hareide, meanwhile, believes Juve have the clout to get past the group stages.
“I think Juventus will go far, they have the quality and the experience and they've won the league three times consecutively," said the Swede.
“They are not up to the standard of teams like Chelsea and Real Madrid, but I think they will do well.”
