A controversial penalty handed Juventus a narrow 1-0 win over Monaco in the first leg of their Champions league quarterfinal on Tuesday, leaving everything to play for in next week's return match in the principality.
Arturo Vidal scored his first goal of this season's competition in the 57th minute of an entertaining match after Ricardo Carvalho was judged to have fouled Alvaro Morata in the box.
"It's a great injustice, the penalty was non-existent and I hope that doesn't have an influence on the final result of this tie," Monaco coach leonardo Jardim said. "I thought we would get a better result. But we showed that we are well organized, that we are a good team and we created a lot of difficulties for Juve.
I'm disappointed... I am convinced the result is due to a wrong decision taken by the match officials." Monaco had been denied a penalty of its own in the first half when Anthony Martial tangled with Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini. "I haven't seen (the penalty) again so I can't judge," Allegri said. "It seemed to be a foul as a last man, however from the bench I didn't see if it was outside or inside.
"People who want to enjoy themselves can go to the circus. We have one objective and that is getting through. I'm happy with the result and the performance in parts, especially how we managed to defend at the end without conceding."
Juventus was looking to preserve an impressive home record which had seen it lose just one of 16 European matches at the Juventus Stadium. It was also boosted by Andrea Pirlo's return from injury after a three-week absence and the playmaker set up the first chance of the match with a delightful ball over the top which Morata volleyed over.
Carlos Tevez went close to scoring the opener in the seventh minute but Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic dived smartly to his right to deny the Italian league'sleading goalscorer.
Monaco appeared content to sit back and hit Juventus on the counter and it should have taken the lead in the 10th minute. Martial's pace took him past leonardo Bonucci on the left flank and he picked out an unmarked Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco, only for the midfielder to fire straight at Gianluigi Buffon.
Juventus finally broke the deadlock after Morata beat the offside trap but was brought down by Carvalho. The foul appeared to be outside the area and Monaco again protested in vain. Vidal, who had missed two penalties this season, calmly fired it into the top left corner.