Massimiliano Allegri wants Juventus to get their rapidly derailing Serie A season back on track against Genoa on Sunday before the international break gives their title rivals chance to breathe.

Juve have won only one of their last seven league matches, losing three, and last weekend’s 2-2 home draw with Atalanta allowed AC Milan to take over as top side Inter’s closest challengers for the Scudetto.

Next opponents Genoa have been less than impressive away from home this term and Bianconeri head coach Allegri hopes this offers his team an opportunity to put a match to bed and make a statement before his players disappear on international duty.

He told a press conference: “We’ve had a good week, we all understand the period we’re going through.

“We’ve decided to stay together as a team for one more evening, knowing that we need to get back on track. We have goals to reach and we know tomorrow’s importance.

“In the last few games we haven’t given up many chances, but have conceded a lot of goals.

“At times that can happen. We need to improve defensively as a team, not just as individuals. There are some mistakes that we need to resolve and we’re working on it.”

On his selection issues, the Tuscan boss added: “We’re without (Arkadiusz) Milik and we’ll have to re-evaluate him after the international break, but (Mattia) Perin and (Mattia) De Sciglio are back. We have all of our forwards available, like (Moise) Kean.

“(Adrien) Rabiot doesn’t have 90 minutes in the tank just yet but just having him available is a positive.”

Genoa head to the Allianz Stadium on the back of two straight defeats, the first to Inter, while a 3-2 home defeat by Monza is still stinging a week later.

Head coach Alberto Gilardino, the former AC Milan and Parma striker, told reporters: “Allegri is a really great manager and Juve have a very strong squad full of world-class players.

“They’ve won a lot and are on an arc of improvement with lots of young stars coming through alongside plenty of experienced, quality players. They started the season among the favourites to win the title this year.

“They’re a difficult team to go up against as they have players who can change the game at any moment. But, as we saw in the first game, what counts is what we can do out on the pitch.

“We need to maintain great balance and pay even more attention to the fine details so we can maximise what the team, and the individual players, are trying to do.”