Igor Tudor has a remarkable record on the Hellas Verona bench and saw a ‘deserved victory’ over Juventus with Cholito Simeone’s brace.
Hellas have made a habit of rushing into the lead, going 2-0 up in six of their last seven games, but this was only the third victory in that run.
Giovanni Simeone can’t seem to stop scoring at the moment, bagging a brace by the 14th minute, ensuring a late Weston McKennie strike was mere consolation.
The Stadio Bentegodi is becoming a fortress, beating Roma, Lazio and now Juventus here under coach Tudor, who was Andrea Pirlo’s assistant manager in Turin last season. So how did he feel beating his Juventus?
“It’s not my Juventus, it’s my Verona! I had some good years there, but this is a battle now and we always try to win,” Tudor told DAZN.
“It was a deserved victory, the lads gave their all and after going 2-0 up, I feel we could’ve pushed harder to maybe add a third. We started to sit too deep in the second half, Juve raised the tempo and created some danger, but we defended the three points tooth and nail.
“I said in previous matches that the mentality changed after going 2-0 up and I didn’t like that. I’ve seen it happen too many times now. You cannot just stop trying to score goals, but on this occasion, Juve’s quality forced us back in the second half.
“Defensively, we improved compared to previous matches, we doubled up more, had everyone fighting for the ball and that pleased me.”
Since Tudor took over from Eusebio Di Francesco a month into the campaign, only Napoli and Milan have picked up more points than Hellas Verona.
“Where we can improve is our defensive solidity, to allow fewer shots on goal. I saw improvements today, but we can do better.”
Simeone is on stunning form, scoring six goals in his last two starts, how has Tudor managed to get the best out of a forward who for so many years was deeply inconsistent?
“He’s a great striker, there’s no explanation. As well as being a fine striker, he’s intelligent, humble, eager to learn and I think both he and Gianluca Caprari are suited to my style of football.
“Quality isn’t just in the legs, but also in the mentality and hunger.”
Finally, Tudor was asked if Max Allegri’s current Juventus squad is better than the one he helped train last term.
“They have quality, one of the best coaches and will certainly get better as time wears on.”