Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri lauded goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon after his side's win at Lyon in the Champions League.

Juan Cuadrado scored the only goal of the game with 14 minutes remaining to secure a 1-0 victory on Tuesday.

But Buffon was the hero, making numerous saves including stopping a 35th-minute penalty from Alexandre Lacazette.

Allegri hailed the shot-stopper after his side held on, having been reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Mario Lemina saw red.

"We're on seven points after three games but the most important thing is that we still haven't conceded a goal," Allegri told a news conference.

"Tonight we owe our clean sheet to Buffon's performance."

Allegri sees plenty of improvement in his team, who are top of Group H and level on points with Sevilla.

"We can and must get better. We weren't direct enough with our running in the first half," he said.

"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.

"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."