Thiago Motta admits Inter ‘had the chances to kill the match’ and let Juventus off the hook in a 4-4 thriller, but was pushed on his unexpected choices in defence.
The Bianconeri looked at one point as if they were done for, trailing 4-2 at San Siro and repeatedly seeing Michele Di Gregorio make acrobatic saves to keep the scoreline down.
During the height of that pressure, Thiago Motta introduced Kenan Yildiz off the bench and went on to score two goals, clawing their way back into the game for an extraordinary 4-4 result.
“We went behind with two penalties in complicated situations, but we kept ourselves in the game. Naturally, it became more difficult after the fourth goal, as Inter played well and had the chances to kill the match, but they didn’t,” Thiago Motta told Sky Sport Italia.
“We must analyse this game, as it had a lot of peaks and troughs, but this is a game where we have to be at full strength for 94 minutes, not these ups and downs.”
Juve had conceded only one goal in Serie A all season until now, but conceded three in the first half alone. What does Thiago Motta think caused the sudden change in fortunes?
“We can improve in many areas, every match is different. We suffered in defence today, quite apart from being against a strong, attacking team with a lot of quality, we still struggled both individually and collectively to allow that many chances.
“On the other hand, we also created a lot of scoring opportunities, so it was an open and very fair football match.”
Thiago Motta outlines Juventus tactics against Inter
Inter have their greatest strength down the left with Alessandro Bastoni and Federico Dimarco, so how did Thiago Motta deal with that?
“We have players on that flank in good shape, Andrea Cambiaso who comes from deep, Francisco Conceicao who is not easy for anyone to deal with when he runs at you with that pace and quality. Weston McKennie also has this characteristic of throwing himself into spaces at the right moment.
“Inter can attack well, but suffer in defence, and we did more or less the same this evening, causing them problems.”
See how this incredible game unfolded on the Liveblog.
This is not the first time that Juve have come back from the toughest situations, as in the Champions League against RB Leipzig they were trailing and down to 10 men only to win 3-2 in Germany.
Thiago Motta was asked why Danilo had been chosen to start in a four-man defence rather than Federico Gatti, especially as he gave away one of the penalties.
“They are two completely different players. Federico has more experience in that role and gave us a lot until now, while Danilo is a bit better at starting moves from the back right now. They have both been able to help Pierre Kalulu in different ways in different games. Gatti brought more defensive solidity, as Danilo was on a yellow card, but they are two players who can also work together,” explained the coach.
“We’ve also got Juan Cabal, who can play there, but I prefer him at left-back. It depends on the game, their form and their fitness, because we have a lot of matches coming up and I’m sure those who come on will express themselves in the best way to achieve the results we want.”
The real winners this evening are also Napoli, as Antonio Conte’s men go four points clear at the top of the Serie A table.
Great result for Napoli
Forza Sud