Patrice Evra warned Juventus suffered by being favourites against Monaco. “We felt that tension and anxiety.”
The former Manchester United left-back spoke to Sky Sport Italia after the 1-0 Champions League quarter-final victory. The second leg is on April 22.
“It’s still open. We must respect Monaco and we didn’t underestimate them the way Arsenal did. Alright, 1-0 is not a great result, but it puts us in a good position to qualify.
Patrice Evra warned Juventus suffered by being favourites against Monaco. “We felt that tension and anxiety.”
The former Manchester United left-back spoke to Sky Sport Italia after the 1-0 Champions League quarter-final victory. The second leg is on April 22.
“It’s still open. We must respect Monaco and we didn’t underestimate them the way Arsenal did. Alright, 1-0 is not a great result, but it puts us in a good position to qualify.
“We still have a lot to do and above all must maintain respect for Monaco. Every time I play with this jersey, I try to respect those who came before me and that’s a huge responsibility for me.”
Evra is one of the most experienced players in the Bianconeri squad and pointed out reaching the semi-finals would be a milestone.
“Juve are a good team, but going through would make us into a great team. I remember at Juve the Coach and President said the task was to qualify and everyone was so happy when we went through, they were celebrating in the locker room. To me it had always seemed normal to reach the quarter-finals.”
At the same time, the lack of experience at this level almost proved costly, as Juventus started in shaky fashion.
“Against Borussia Dortmund people said it was 50-50, even after the first leg, whereas as soon as we drew Monaco everyone assumed we would win comfortably.
“Being favourites put pressure on us and we did feel that tension in the first 20 minutes. I felt the anxiety and we had to shake that off.”