Catania, Italy – AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri was not interested in talking about Barcelona during Friday's press conference, and he was not worried about Juventus, either.
Milan sits atop Serie A with a four-point cushion over Juve, and faces a giant task Tuesday in the second match of their Champions League quarterfinal series at Barca, but a trip to Catania awaits first Saturday.
"Talking about Barcelona though makes no sense," said Allegri, who guided his side to a 0-0 draw in the first leg Wednesday at the San Siro.
"Catania is more important at the moment."
And although Allegri knows unbeaten Juventus has "the right qualities to fight for and to win the league," it did him no good to worry about his title rival.
"I'm not thinking about Juventus," Allegri said. "At the moment we have four points on them and they be fighting until the end."
Allegri was wise to focus on Catania, as this weekend's opponent is undefeated in seven straight league matches and seventh in the table, one place ahead of city rival Inter Milan.
"They're very dangerous up front and they're solid at the back," Allegri said. "They're in good shape and we're on the back of a game that sapped a lot of energy. It'll be tough."
Allegri will face some tough decisions about who to rest against Catania, but he wanted to leave the Stadio Angelo Massimino with a positive result. Catania has lost just twice at home.
"The performance on Tuesday will follow on from (Saturday's) game and so we have to be ready. It's a particular week, but we'll take it game by game," Allegri said. "We'll think about Barcelona only from Sunday.
"We have to come back from Catania with a result."
Parma, five points clear of the bottom three in 17th place, will try to end an eight-match winless streak when it hosts third-place Lazio in Saturday's other match. Lazio is eight points behind Juve, but just three clear of Napoli.
Napoli's nine-match undefeated streak will be threatened Sunday at Juventus in a preview of the Italian Cup final. Juventus topped Inter, 2-0, last week to continue its unbeaten run.
New Inter Milan coach Andrea Stramaccioni, the club's third coach this season, will try to get his side back on track Sunday when Genoa visits the San Siro.
Inter fired Claudio Ranieri this week after the loss to Juve, and Stramaccioni takes over a club that sits just eighth in the standings and seven points off even a Europa League place. Lazio is 10 points clear for the last of Serie A's Champions League spots.
Also Sunday, Roma hosts Novara, Lecce hosts Cesena, Cagliari hosts Atalanta, Siena hosts Udinese, Bologna hosts Palermo, and Fiorentina hosts Chievo.
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