Juventus boss Andrea Pirlo says his side “must continue believing” after they suffered a shock 1-0 home loss to Benevento on Sunday.
A single goal from Adolfo Gaich gave the relegation-threatened visitors victory at Allianz Stadium, despite Juve bossing 73 per cent of the ball and having 16 shots.
Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to inspire them back into the game, and Juve are now on the verge of losing their grip on their league crown.
What was said?
“We must continue believing, continue our path so that we are up there. As I said yesterday, the objective does not change, but we do need a completely different attitude to this. We wear an important jersey and must honour it every time,” Pirlo told Sky Sport Italia when asked about his side’s title prospects.
“There was no pressure, just the expectation to do better than this. Instead, it was a bad day in every respect, with our attitude, technical errors, everything. When you play like this, you can well lose.
Next Match
“We were eager to win the game, but also knew it would be a difficult match, as Benevento are well-organised with two tight lines, so we had to be calm and spread them out. Instead, we were frenetic, made lots of mistakes and unfortunately were unable to get the result we wanted.”
The big picture
Juventus are now 10 points behind Serie A leaders Inter with 11 matches of the season remaining. They are down to fourth, with Milan and Atalanta also in front of them.
Having crashed out of the Champions League to an unheralded Porto side, Pirlo finds himself in the crosshairs for critics who doubt his ability to lead the club through this difficult phase.
Further reading
Ronaldo presented with 'GOAT 770' commemorative Juventus shirt after breaking Pele's goal record