Giorgio Chiellini admits Juventus “didn’t have the same old hunger” at the start of this season but “we looked each other in the eyes and said ‘this is not right’.”
The Bianconeri fought back from a goal down to beat Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, seen very much as a triumph for experience and know-how.
“It’s true that the Italian old guard is always there, but other players deserve credit too,” Chiellini told Sky.
Giorgio Chiellini admits Juventus “didn’t have the same old hunger” at the start of this season but “we looked each other in the eyes and said ‘this is not right’.”
The Bianconeri fought back from a goal down to beat Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, seen very much as a triumph for experience and know-how.
“It’s true that the Italian old guard is always there, but other players deserve credit too,” Chiellini told Sky.
“There’s also [Stephan] Lichtsteiner who has been here since the first Scudetto and [Kwadwo] Asamoah who arrived for the second.
“After the first period of the season in the league where we were probably a bit satisfied, where we didn’t have the same old hunger we’ve found ourselves.
“We looked each other in the eyes and said ‘this is not right, we have to change’.
“A team cannot disregard their Coach, just as the Coach cannot disregard the team.
“I’d say it [the win at Wembley] was very emotional, for us and for all of our fans.
“Then I’d say it was passionate, given that to qualify in a double-header it takes a lot of passion.
“After that lucidity, since we were aware of the difficulties of this game but we never lost our calm and focus.
“We waited for Tottenham to grant us something, and it happened.”
Attentions now turn back to the Scudetto race, with the Bianconeri just a point behind Napoli with a game in hand.
“We’ve always been behind so far, we hope to go ahead on Sunday, even for a few hours because we’re playing first so we have a chance to take the lead and then we’ll see after that.
“It will be a very difficult week, because we’re facing dynamic physical teams and we’re coming off a period where we’ve expended a lot.
“We spent Wednesday evening celebrating, then yesterday [Davide Astori’s funeral] was very tough for most of the group.
“I think from today though we’re all very focused on Sunday because this week will be… I don’t want to say decisive, but very, very important for the League.”
The centre-back was also asked about two of his teammates, Paulo Dybala and Gigi Buffon.
“Paulo just has to keep doing what he’s doing,” Chiellini said.
“He’s a golden boy, now he’s started scoring again but we never had any doubts.
“As for Buffon, he’s thinking of nothing but the pitch at the moment. We have too important a period ahead of us.”