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Serie A: Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri admits his men got lucky

Image: Massimiliano Allegri: Admitted Juve were lucky

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri admitted his side were fortunate to take all three points in the city derby against Torino.

An injury-time winner by Andrea Pirlo handed Juve a less-than-convincing 2-1 triumph over Toro in Sunday's derby and allowed the Bianconeri to remain three points clear of Roma at the top of the Serie A table.

Toro, who had not beaten Juve since 1995, were the better side on the night and looked set to earn a point before Pirlo's late strike handed Juve their 11th league win of the campaign.

Allegri was the first to admit his side had been very fortunate to have taken maximum points.

"Perhaps a draw would have been a fairer result," Allegri told Gazzetta dello Sport. "We weren't as sharp as usual.

"But football is wonderful because it's dramatic and at times it gives you what it has taken away from you."

Juve had conceded a last-gasp goal to lose 1-0 at Genoa on October 29, their only league defeat of the campaign.

"I remember we deserved a win against Genoa and yet we went home empty handed," Allegri said. "Against Toro, I give credit to my players for believing until the end. "

The win was all the more significant considering Juve played down to 10 men for the last 12 minutes of the game after losing defender Stephan Lichtsteiner to a second yellow card.

Arturo Vidal had put Juve ahead from the penalty spot in the 15th minute before Torino's Bruno Peres levelled matters shortly after.

"We played a good first half but conceded an easy goal, allowing Peres to run for 70 metres without being challenged," Allegri said. "After Torino equalised we were a little disoriented and the game became much more difficult.

"Thankfully, what was a balanced game was decided by a champion."

Allegri reserved special praise for Italy international Pirlo as well as Juve's other goalscorer of the day Arturo Vidal.

"Vidal played a good game," he said. "He had several opportunities to score besides the one of the penalty.

"He also assisted Pirlo in his goal.

"As for Pirlo, I never doubted his quality."

Pirlo, 35, was ecstatic that his second league goal of the season handed Juve a precious win.

"It was good that Vidal spotted me and I just took a desperate shot that went in," he said. "We are over the moon."

He added: "It's fantastic to win the derby at the last second and doing so with a man down. A joy that we share with our fans.

"The most important thing is that we are giving continuity to our results."

Sunday's victory was the Bianconeri's 25th successive Serie A win at the Juventus Stadium.

Juve travel to Tuscany to face Fiorentina on Friday.

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