Walter Mazzarri believes Cagliari ‘deserved a point’ in the 2-1 defeat to Juventus and were unfortunate on the two goals.
This was the fifth consecutive Serie A defeat for the Sardinians, leaving them hovering perilously above the relegation zone.
It was at least a definite improvement in terms of performance from last week’s 5-1 loss against Udinese.
Joao Pedro had opened the scoring after Razvan Marin robbed Paulo Dybala in midfield to spark the counter-attack.
Serie A | Cagliari 1-2 Juventus: Vlahovic turnaround in Sardinia
However, a Matthijs de Ligt header on a corner and Dusan Vlahovic on Dybala’s through ball turned it around for a 2-1 result.
“We lacked physicality in midfield, where Juve have technique and strength,” Mazzarri told Sky Sport Italia.
“We could’ve done better in defending, we were unlucky on the goal for 2-1 with a ricochet and also on the equaliser, so you need a bit of luck in these situations. I still feel we deserved a point.
“It’s the second game where we failed to get points against a big club, as we hit the woodwork against Milan. It’s a pity, because we’ve seen other teams of our level who got results in those fixtures due to a bit of luck.
“Our season starts next weekend, we have five finals and a bonus to be played with the game in hand. If we play with this spirit seen today, we can do well.”
Cagliari went into a training retreat after the 5-1 defeat to Udinese, but the coach insists it was for the good of the team.
“Training retreats are not always about punishment. Sometimes it’s just about having the time to work more on various things. We’ve got a lot of players who for example were on international duty with the Under-21s and do very different preventative marking routines, so they get confused.
“There is also a lack of balance due to the desperation to win, we conceded avoidable counter-attacks in Udine and almost did it again on a corner today, but I did see more balance this evening. It’s all about balance, ferocity when defending and calm heads when we’ve got the ball.
“The good news is that not everyone is Juventus or Milan, so we can have our say against other opponents this season.”
Oh my word 😱
17th place Cagliari take the lead against Juventus with a brilliant goal on the counter attack! pic.twitter.com/jErkbyGNjL
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 9, 2022