Juventus’s Champions League hopes took a hit last night as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk in front of a quiet and empty Turin crowd.
Juventus have now drawn their last eight European matches, dating back to the 2010-11 Europa League campaign under Gigi Delneri and the result leaves them with some work to do in the group if they are to progress to the knockout stages.
Afterwards Juventus stand-in coach Carrera blamed the teams performance on their failure to seize the initiative telling Sky Italia:
“We went out on to the field a little timid. We knew it was a difficult opponent, even if people said it would be easy. We were tense, conceded a goal and did well to get straight back on level terms.
“We know our group is tough and we will fight it out to the end with another two teams. Every opponent is strong in the Champions League, so we must do our best to go as far as possible in this competition.”
That view was supported by Bonucci, whose goal drew the Bianconeri level after they had fallen behind to Alex Teixeira’s opener:
“Considering the way the game was going, we certainly did well to get it back on track,” he said. “We went on to the pitch a little too timid and allowed them to control the tempo. We cannot afford that, as nobody gives you an inch in the Champions League.
“Juve must always control the game from the first to the last minute. When we attacked them, we put Shakhtar under a lot of pressure.”
