Andrea Pirlo reveals Alvaro Morata ‘felt faint’ after the 2-1 Champions League defeat to FC Porto and Juventus ‘handed the opening goal on a silver platter.’
This was arguably the worst Bianconeri performance of the season so far, showing a shameful lack of concentration when conceding a goal in the opening minute of each half.
Andrea Pirlo reveals Alvaro Morata ‘felt faint’ after the 2-1 Champions League defeat to FC Porto and Juventus ‘handed the opening goal on a silver platter.’
This was arguably the worst Bianconeri performance of the season so far, showing a shameful lack of concentration when conceding a goal in the opening minute of each half.
The opener in particular was disappointing, as Rodrigo Bentancur’s awful back-pass was intercepted by Mehdi Taremi.
“When you concede a goal after one minute, a strange one at that, it’s natural the players will lose confidence, especially against a side that knows how to clam up in defence,” Pirlo told Sky Sport Italia.
“Porto got the game immediately on the track they wanted. With such a packed fixture list, it’s normal you can’t always maintain absolute focus and the right tempo, but it shouldn’t have happened in the Round of 16 of the Champions League.”
Federico Chiesa gave them some hope with a late away goal, while Cristiano Ronaldo had penalty appeals rejected in stoppages for the Zaidu challenge.
To make matters worse, Danilo was booked and will be suspended for the second leg, while Giorgio Chiellini went off injured.
“Matthijs De Ligt fortunately just had cramp. Chiellini has a calf problem and Morata wasn’t in good shape before, then was sore at the end too, so we’ll see. Morata hasn’t been at his best since returning from a bout of flu. He was only playing tonight because we needed him.
“He felt ill in the locker room afterwards, he felt faint and needed a lie down, so he is not doing well.”
Sky Sport Italia pundit Fabio Capello complained Juve were constantly gathering the ball with their backs to the goal, putting them in the wrong positions.
“We moved the ball around too slowly and weren’t intelligent enough to realise the dynamics of the game we were going into.
“The intention was to spread the play, but we didn’t do it enough in the first half, a bit more towards the end. It’s not easy against a team with 11 men behind the ball.
“We had prepared well for this game, it was not the attitude we wanted, but conceding a goal in the opening minute when we handed it to them on a silver platter made everything more difficult.”