17 March 2014

Juventus Won Like A Great Team Says Antonio Conte



Juventus coach Antonio Conte believes it took a "great team" to grind out a win like his team did against Genoa on Sunday.

The reigning Serie A champions edged out a 1-0 win over Gian Piero Gasperini's side thanks to Andrea Pirlo's free-kick in the dying minutes.

Genoa created chances throughout the game and missed a penalty in the second-half which would have given them the lead, but for Gianluigi Buffon's save. Conte believes his side's ability to emerge from the match victorious was a sign of their strength.


“The players begin to get tired and only a great team could have won like we did here today in spite of some debatable moments," Conte told the club's official website.

“Their defenders were very aggressive, they kept hold of possession and looked to play. They maybe could have been more precise with the final ball, but they were very good in both attack and defence."

The coach insisted the league was "50 per cent won" after last weekend's win over Fiorentina but he refused to discuss how far ahead his side are now as they stretched their lead at the top to 17 points.

“I prefer not to state percentages of something that could then turn out not to happen. But of course coming to Genoa and winning against a team who played the game of their lives is very important.

“Moving forward at this extraordinary pace can be discouraging for the chasing pack because we’ve now got an incredible 75 points. Our objective is delivering a third consecutive Scudetto for the club president and now we’ll go to Florence looking to reach the next round of the Europa League.”

The Italian coach suggested he could rotate his squad again heading into the second-leg of their Europa League last-16 clash against Fiorentina at the Artemio Franchi.

“The problem [Andrea] Barzagli had today should serve as an example. He had a calf injury and we gave him a breather on Thursday to be able to play him today, but instead he’s still had to miss out.

"This should be a clear sign of how important squad rotation is.”

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