MILAN (Reuters) – Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri bombarded reporters with his team’s injury statistics on Friday as he dismissed the suggestion that he is overworking his players.

The defending champions have made a slow start to the season and are joint seventh with 18 points from 12 games ahead of Saturday’s match with AC Milan.

“According to our data, we have had 16 muscular injuries this season, of which five are due to overuse,” he said.

“Last year, at the same stage of the season, the number was 10 to 11. This year, we have had more injuries which have lasted for 30 days; last season, we had more injuries which lasted between one and three months.”

“It almost seems like a rule, that Allegri’s teams always have injured players, they work (train) badly, and that sort of thing,” he said sarcastically.

“Sometimes you’re not as lucky, but things are comparable when you have a few more injuries in September, as we did last year, and a few more in October, as we did this year.

“At the end what counts are the results, I work to get results.”

Juventus have won the last four Serie A titles and Allegri said he was still aiming for a fifth in a row.

“Our aim is still to win the championship,” he said. “Nobody thought we would have 18 points in the standings at this stage, but we have been working for the future.”

(Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Rex Gowar)