"?Massimiliano Allegri has heaped praise on Gianluigi Buffon for his outstanding performance in Juventus' 1-0 Champions League triumph over Lyon.
The veteran goalkeeper's display drew critical acclaim from his boss after the encounter at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on Tuesday night, with Allegri "?telling reporters that Buffon was the major reason that his side achieved victory.
Buffon saved a 35th minute penalty from Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette, as well as making a number of other top quality saves to prevent Juventus from falling behind, and the 38-year-old's performance allowed Juan Cuadrado to net 14 minutes from time to seal a smash and grab win for the Serie A outfit.
Speaking after the Group H clash, Allegri reserved a special mention for Buffon as he kept a third successive clean sheet in the continental tournament.
He said: "We're on seven points after three games but the most important thing is that we still haven't conceded a goal. Tonight we owe our clean sheet to Buffon's performance."
As well as having to contend with an onslaught from the home side, Juventus spent much of the second half with only 10 men on the pitch after Mario Lemina was sent off.
#Juventus, #Allegri: 'We have to play better. #Buffon...'https://t.co/JGXilc2jHM pic.twitter.com/6sRg9tD54f
The reigning Scudetto champions managed to hold on to achieve victory over Lyon, but Allegri warned his players that they needed to perform better in the coming weeks if they were to progress to the next round of the Champions League.
He added:"We can and must get better. We weren't direct enough with our running in the first half.
"The turning point came when we went down to 10 men, the play got stretched and we did well to raise our game. It's never easy to win on the road.
Cuadrado scored the goal, Buffon secured the clean sheet, Allegri's tactical masterclass when Juve down to 10-men secured 57% posession
"We found it tough going with their counter-attacks in the first half. We dwelled in possession too much and gave away too many simple passes, but we improved after the break.
"Generally speaking, I think we need to relax a bit more and not rush things."
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