Veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini has urged Juventus to recover their defensive solidity as he vowed not to concede a goal in their crucial match against Serie A leaders Napoli away on Friday.
Six-time defending champions Juventus are currently third in the Serie A table, with 34 points from 14 matches. Napoli have 38 points from same number of matches as they stand two points clear of Inter Milan.
Though Chiellini said that the record Italian football champions reach their level of play in the latter part of the season, he felt that this campaign, they are "missing something" as they have conceded 14 goals so far.
In the entire Serie A 2016-17 season, they had conceded 27 goals.
Also Read
In the previous Champions League campaign, they had conceded two goals in their group stage. But this time, with a match still to be played, Juventus have already conceded five goals.
"90% of the time, the team that has the best defence wins the league, it is statistics and we want to return to having the most solid defence. We need to find the balance that's been missing at the start of the season," Chiellini told Juventus website on Tuesday.
"We are a front-trailing team, and this was also the case in the second half of last season, and perhaps we had more concentration then. In the last few months we have paid by suffering some highs and lows and conceding goals."
Two key defensive players, Leonardo Bonucci and Dani Alves left Juventus this season for AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.
In the Serie A, Juventus allowed a young Atalanta side to draw despite a 2-0 lead in October. In the same month, Lazio scored twice after conceding a goal to Douglas Costa. Earlier this month, Samdoria scored thrice in the second half as Juventus lost 1-3.
"However, the goals that we have conceded aren't down to individual mistakes, or an area of the team, it's because we're missing something. Now we want to leave the San Paolo (stadium in Naples) without conceding a single goal, that would be a very important sign of strength," Chiellini vowed.
The 33-year-old, who has been a part of Juventus since 2005, said that even though they respect Napoli, a team also known for their free-flowing football, Massimiliano Allegri -coached Juventus will aim to cut the points deficit in Naples.
"We are all aware of the importance of Friday's match. We have a lot of respect for Napoli, and we want to demonstrate to everyone that we have the desire to still be on top come May. The league doesn't end after Friday, but a defeat would be difficult to digest.
"However, we don't want to think about what could happen if we are seven points behind, because we hope to leave the San Paolo one point behind."
--IANS
pur/sam/vm
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content