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Juventus players had to overcome the impact of a tough loss to Fiorentina on Sunday, according to coach Andrea Pirlo.
Andrea Pirlo revealed that Juventus was “feeling the fear” for their tough defeat against Fiorentina ahead of the midseason break in the early stages of their 4-1 win over Udinese on Sunday.
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Juve suffered a humiliating 3-0 home loss to La Viola in December, their first in the league this season, but the champions recovered in style at Allianz Stadium.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored on both sides of Federico Chiesa’s great shot – the 15th consecutive season that the Portuguese star has scored 20 goals for his club and his country – before Marvin Zeegelaar and Paulo Dybala of Udinese exchanged goals in the final stages.
The result ensured that Juve avoided going three straight home games without winning for the first time since 2015-16, and Pirlo admitted that defeat to Fiorentina was the last time on his players’ minds from the start.
“It was not the best Juventus, as we were coming off a bad loss to Fiorentina, so we started quite shy and nervous, especially when their forwards ran towards us. We gained more confidence as we progressed,” Pirlo told DAZN.
“I was not satisfied with the initial approach to the game, as we were still afraid of our last loss to Fiorentina. The timing of the movements was not correct, especially on the wings.
“We knew Udinese would try to sit back, counterattack and wait for our mistakes, but we did well with preventive scoring to make sure they couldn’t do that.”
“We need Dybala, he needs us”
Dybala’s late goal was only his second in Serie A this season and came after a game in which he lost possession 21 times, seven more than any other Juve player.
Despite his waste with the ball, Pirlo was satisfied with the contribution of the Argentine international and he believes that his goal was the result of the forward’s improved fitness.
“We need Dybala, he needs us,” added the Juve coach. “He worked very well during the week in training. During the game we could see that he was in better physical condition and we kept him going until the end because we expected him to score that goal.”
The result could have been different if Rodrigo de Paul’s shot in the 10th minute after a VAR control is not ruled out for a handball before in motion.
And Rodrigo Bentancur, who put the second to Ronaldo, acknowledged that Juve need to start the games with more force in his step, starting with his visit to leader Milan on Wednesday.
“We didn’t start with the right mindset and we conceded that goal, which was fortunately disallowed for handball,” Bentancur said.
“We did better after the break, we deserved the win, but again the mentality dropped at the end to concede that goal.
“I think we have to keep that concentration for the 90 minutes. We gave Udinese too many chances and that shouldn’t happen.
“I don’t care if I score goals or not. I gave an assist tonight and that’s as good as a goal, because I’m helping the team.
“This was a victory we wanted and fought hard for. Now we have a couple of days to rest and prepare for Milan. “
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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