Wojciech Szczesny admits the Juventus veterans should learn from the younger players after their Champions League exit. ‘We saw the right attitude, courage and desire to fight’ against PSG that had been lacking.
Their Champions League dream was long gone before stepping onto the field against Paris Saint-Germain this evening, but they would at least get a Europa League play-off place if they didn’t get a worse result than Maccabi Haifa.
Both of them lost, Juve 2-1 and Maccabi Haifa beaten 6-1 at home by Benfica, allowing the Portuguese side to pip PSG to top spot in the group on away goals.
“At the start of the Champions League group, it is obvious we didn’t want to end up in the Europa League, but now that we are there, we must try to win it out of respect for the jersey we wear,” Szczesny told Mediaset.
There were 12 players missing tonight between injuries and bans, but Fabio Miretti and Nicolò Fagioli again impressed after promotion from the youth academy.
“We saw the right attitude today, even if we lost the game and that is never nice. The lads showed courage and played their football, and that’s no mean feat for such young players at this level,” added the Poland international.
They managed to scrape through despite only getting three points, all from beating Maccabi Haifa in Turin, after losing five out of six group games.
“What we lacked in the Champions League was that attitude, courage and desire to fight. We went through this group without the right character and Juventus mentality, that was only apparent in the final match.
“I think this was a strong signal, though.”
Juve must bring some of that fight to the pitch on Sunday in the Derby d’Italia against Inter and have an extra bonus with the first appearance of Federico Chiesa since tearing his ACL in January.
“It is a head-to-head, we will bring this enthusiasm with us thanks to the return of Chiesa and will try to win against Inter.”
They lost 2-1.
1/6 is the stuff of legends. Very similar to Celtic and Rangers but no coincidence as all three are at the same level and size in terms of prestige.
Tek is the first player that needs to go. He is way too slow to get down to saves, doesn’t command his box and doesn’t marshall the defence. Perin is way, way better.
His comments are correct.
Only when the season has crashed and burned do we see some desire and fight from the worst group of players in over a decade. The kids are miles above the veteran wasters & declining free agents. The team is as cowardly, outdated and deluded as the coach.
agree with brandon, they played positive football,
hope he continues this attacking playing style
I can’t ever remember any Milan, Inter, Roma or Lazio et al bashing when they were not winning anything at all for a decade. Strange how these voices selectively hate.
@fatecisognare – thats because thr used to not winning consistantcy and spending on wrong players / system
@fatecisognare – u say hate, please show the hate, cuz s a cc hi / cap ello have stated what we’ve said – and thats was way after us