Juventus coach Max Allegri admits they weren't at their best for tonight's 2-1 Champions League win over Sporting CP.

Miralem Pjanic's free kick and a late Mario Mandzukic header gave Juve a 2-1 win over Sporting after Alex Sandro's own goal.

Allegri conceded: “We are not sharp right now, as some players were out for a while, others returned from international duty in bad shape, so we must continue to work.

“Last season is in the past, so to remain at a certain level, you must fight and work every single day. I thought Gonzalo Higuain played very well tonight with character, quality and physicality.

“It's never easy to win in the Champions League, we've made a step forward, but there's a long way to go and we must try to reconnect, as some of our elements are a bit disconnected.

“It's one season up to November and another after that. After the next break for international duty is when the Juventus season will really begin.

“We made some technical errors, especially in the opening 20 minutes, then at the end we were running a lot of risks rather than locking down the result."