"At This Moment, They're At A Different Level To Us And A Very Strong Opponent”

Written By Onyeka Daniel

After getting two excellent results in their first two games, it finally came to a head for Italian giants, Juventus as they faced their first tough opposition at the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup tournament in USA and it ended badly, but they still progressed to the next round.

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The Bianconeri faced EPL giants, Manchester City and already knew they had qualified for the Round of 16 before going into the match in Orlando, and that a draw would’ve been enough to top the group thanks to scoring more goals against Wydad and Al-Ain.

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Instead, it ended in a humiliating 5-2 defeat and for their manager, Igor Tudor, he admitted that the Cityzens were too much for his team right now after the CWC thrashing, but the Croatian is more concerned with Nicolò Savona’s second half injury.

The former EPL champions opened the scoring early on through Jeremy Doku and then Teun Koopmeiners cancelled out before they crumbled to the defeat, which was also aided by some bad defending with Pierre Kalulu’s own goal being a major highlight of the match.

“Manchester City are too much for us,” Tudor said in a post-match interview with SportMediaset. “Congratulations to them, it’s an ugly result and we don’t like it. They have enormous quality, character, everything. We wanted to push forward, but we couldn’t get the ball back off them. Then we sat too deep and they scored.”

“At this moment, they are at a different level to us.” Considering the completely different financial capabilities of the two clubs, is it possible for Juventus to reach that level? “You can do anything in football, even beat a team of another level, but in order to do that, you must be complete, fresh, playing well.”

“This is what makes football the beautiful game,” he replied. The former Lazio manager had used the same line-up for the first two wins at the Club World Cup, but made six changes for this game, including the return of Filip Kostic after his Fenerbahce loan.

“I wanted to rest a few players today and get others into shape by playing. This is a match I do not like, but if I have anything to complain about, it is to myself and not the players, even if the result is bad. It might seem strange, but that’s how I feel,” Tudor continued.

“The lads gave their all, now we must put it behind us, because the tournament keeps going. We’ll see who we get and push hard.” As they are runners-up, they will be up against another European powerhouse, Real Madrid in the Round of 16 and they would have met Al-Hilal if they had won the group.

“I am not worried, because there are so many different circumstances that must come together. Manchester City have been the best team in the world for the last 10 years. Real Madrid won a lot in that time, but in football terms, City are the best. It’s not strange to struggle against them.”

There is a bigger concern for Tudor and that is the sight of Savona being carried off the field with a badly sprained ankle, meaning his CWC could be over. “He didn’t look good. We’ll see tomorrow.” He further added. Meanwhile, for Koopmeiners, he admitted that there were so many things they need to do better.

“It was a difficult match, against a very strong opponent,” Koopmeiners told Sport Mediaset. “It is tough to play against a team like this, we managed to score two goals when they made mistakes, but there are so many things we need to do better.” He continued.

The former Atalanta star scored the temporary equaliser when pouncing on a poor Ederson ball out from the back, while Dusan Vlahovic only just managed to make the scoreline slightly less humiliating late on. “There are so many things we could’ve done better, in terms of technique and also the team work.”

“When we get the ball back, we have to do better. It’s true the opponents were too strong today, but at the same time, we are Juventus.” The Dutchman was one of the six changes to the starting XI put out by the coach, having recovered from injury concerns.

“I am happy with the goal, we were trailing and it was important to equalise. However, I am sad that we conceded so many goals. It was not a good evening, I too could’ve done better. It is important that we learn from this and improve in the next matches.”

Read Also: “I Can’t Wait To See Them Play Together”

Considering this was the first major test at the tournament after wins over Al-Ain and Wydad, does the 5-2 defeat change the perception of Juventus and their ambition at the CWC? “I don’t know, we talked at half-time and it is disappointing we were not able to do better,” he concluded.

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