Pirlo Admits Juventus Are Nervous, Worried About Inter Milan's Attacking Game

JAKARTA - Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo admitted that his team played poorly when they were defeated by Inter Milan with a score of 0-2 on Sunday local or Monday morning WIB.

The Bianconeri rarely bothered goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, and were fortunate not to concede more goals after Arturo Vidal's header and Nicolo Barella's strike found their way into the net.

Lautaro Martinez had several opportunities to increase his lead, but he was unable to maximize them. On the side of Juve, Federico Chiesa got the only good chance at the last minute of the match.

"We had the wrong attitude from the start, and when you don't have the determination to win duels, it becomes difficult," Pirlo said as quoted by Antara from Sky Sport Italia.

"We didn't go out on the pitch, we were nervous, worried about Inter's attacking play, so in our minds we were just focused on defending and not very aggressive. We let Inter take the initiative and they are very effective in such situations," he added.

"This is a bad defeat, we couldn't play any worse than this, and this is not expected, but we have to raise our heads and prepare for Wednesday and the Super Cup match against Napoli," said the former creative midfielder.

Juve are now only on 33 points, seven behind Inter, but still have one game left to play against Napoli.

Although painful, Pirlo believes defeat to Inter will not reduce their ambition and determination in the race for the league title.

"Our ambition remains the same. It's a slip against a strong team, things like this can happen, but I am disappointed with the attitude (of the players). A team like Juve must come with confidence and ambition, the desire to take the initiative and controlling the game in a certain direction, but we are too cowardly, "he explained.

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- JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 17, 2021

Pirlo is big at heart to take responsibility as coach of the losing team.

"The coach is always the first to blame, because if the team doesn't do what we have planned, it means we don't understand the plan," he concluded.