Thiago Motta Blasts Juventus After Gut-Wrenching Milan Defeat

Thiago Motta blasted his underperforming Juventus side following a heart-wrenching 2-1 defeat to bitter rivals Milan in Friday's Supercoppa Italiana semi-final tie. Despite taking a halftime lead, the record-time Super Cup winners succumbed to only their second competitive loss under the ex-Bologna manager. The post Thiago Motta Blasts Juventus After Gut-Wrenching Milan Defeat appeared first on The Cult of Calcio.

EllenDeGeneres

Jan 4, 2025 - 09:14

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Thiago Motta Blasts Juventus After Gut-Wrenching Milan Defeat

Thiago Motta blasted his underperforming Juventus side following a heart-wrenching 2-1 defeat to bitter rivals Milan in Friday’s Supercoppa Italiana semi-final tie. Despite taking a halftime lead, the record-time Super Cup winners succumbed to only their second competitive loss under the ex-Bologna manager.

Indeed, Kenan Yildiz put Juventus in front in the 21st minute. The situation looked idyllic for the Bianconeri at the halftime interval. Motta’s side had Milan on the ropes. However, despite boasting complete control of proceedings in Riyadh, they fell apart after the half-hour mark, allowing Sergio Conceicao’s team to steal the victory.

Christian Pulisic scored from the spot to level the score before Federico Gatti’s unfortunate own goal condemned Juventus to their first defeat in four encounters against Milan. Motta slammed his squad in the aftermath, insisting they ‘lack character.‘

“We certainly cannot be happy with what we did, especially in the first half, while in the second we also failed to convert chances to kill the game,” Motta told Sport Mediaset via TMW. “Milan did very little too, so they should not have been able to win the game by doing just that.

“This is an important defeat, yes, because it was a game where we had a very big opportunity to reach the Final,” the frustrated Juventus boss continued. “It is disappointing, I feel that we had a big, big chance to beat Milan, and we were unable to do it.

“We need to improve our character because we were in control, we created chances to kill the game and didn’t do it,” Motta added. “Character comes into play when a negative incident happens and you must be able to react.

“At the first negative incident today, we did not react and wasted the opportunity to play in the Final, which for 70 minutes was entirely in our hands,” the Juventus coach concluded.