Juventus coach Thiago Motta took full responsibility for his side’s defeat against Benfica in the final matchday of the Champions League group stage.
The Bianconeri were hoping for a victory that could lift them to the Top 8 spots, at least place them among the seeded clubs in the play-offs. However, they end up producing yet another miserable showing in front of their irritated home supporters, especially in the first half.
The Portuguese giants had the clear upper hand in the early going, and took the lead through Vangelis Pavlidis who only had to place his shot past the hapless Mattia Perin.
While the Italians certainly improved after the break and managed to take the initiative, they remained toothless in front of goal. So against the run of play, Benfica added another goal to kill off the contest in the 80th minute.
After the encounter, Motta insisted the defeat was his own doing, while lauding his players who gave their all on the pitch.
“After a defeat, you can always point fingers and come up with alibis, but I don’t do that,” said the Juventus manager in his post-match press conference via IlBianconero. “It’s my responsibility, the boys try to give their all.”
“We did not deserve the victory, Benfica created and finished better. We have to improve quickly. In Naples, we had an excellent first half, but today, our first half was difficult. In the second half, we did a little better but not enough to cause problems for Benfica.”
Motta also provided updates on Pierre Kalulu who left the pitch early after sustaining a knock.
“He felt something while slipping and was unable to play. Let’s hope it’s nothing important and he can return for the next one, albeit it’s going to be difficult. But we’ll evaluate his condition.”
5 Comments
What a joke. “I don’t make excuses.” What? Like after the last match insinuating that too many matches for your players was the reason you got dominated in the second half by Napoli.
I think there’s nothing more that can be done here. Change needed.
If Motta is fair to Juventus he offers to leave.
And if this is “their all” these guys have then they should be playing in an amateur league. E.g. the “12 million salary” Vlahovic. Where are the goals that would be expected from him in a match like this.
DV has consistently showed he can’t be counted on in big matches. Some of it is his fault. But a lot of it is just starvation diets in the attacking systems he’s been in with us. Allegri and then Allegri 2.0 (Motta). Also being a left footed striker doesn’t work in the modern game – your weak foot should be at least average. Exceptions are when you’re physically dominant , have exceptional holdup play, great pace and unstoppable heading ability. DV has none of those things.
Agree with Matthew and Alex. He needs to go NOW. Defensive like Allegri, but with horrible results.
Also, how have we become so poor on corners? We were actually excellent on corners last term. Zero goals this term. Set piece coach should be let go bare minimum.