May 10 – Juventus manager Igor Tudor was left frustrated but praised his team’s effort after they were denied victory by a last-gasp Matias Vecino header in a 1-1 draw at Lazio in Serie A on Saturday in the race for Champions League qualification.
Randal Kolo Muani put the fourth-placed visitors in front early in the second half only for the momentum to swing towards Lazio, who are level with Juve on 64 points in fifth, after Pierre Kalulu was shown a straight red card on the hour mark.
Reduced to 10 men, Juve defended doggedly until Vecino’s equaliser deep in stoppage time left Tudor ruing another costly lapse.
“We have to congratulate the lads, there is regret because we were one minute away from taking home the three points,” Tudor told reporters.
“It was a solid performance, we’ll take this point and focus on everyone we’ll face this week after the difficulties we’ve had.”
Juve and Lazio are a point above sixth-placed AS Roma, who can move above them both into fourth spot when they visit third-placed Atalanta, who have 68 points, on Monday.
Asked about the dismissal of 24-year-old Kalulu – his first career red card, just like 20-year-old Kenan Yildiz’s in their previous home match – Tudor pointed to the inexperience of a young squad still learning under pressure.
“Definitely, age and pressure go hand in hand and without experience it can happen,” the Croatian coach said. “We paid for these mistakes, but you learn quickly and look ahead.”
Tudor also addressed his decision to take off substitutes Vasilije Adzic and Francisco Conceicao for Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Gatti respectively, a move that raised eyebrows.
“I have to explain because they’re always made for the good of the team,” he said. “I apologised to the two players – I don’t usually do that – but it was the right change.
“Gatti, in particular, deserves praise. He came off the bench without a single training session and showed his leadership.”
With injuries mounting in defence ahead of Juve’s game at home to Udinese next week, Tudor remained calm and focused on the task.
“We’ll prepare as best we can with what we have, but we’re ready,” he said. “Let’s see who recovers – we are missing three defenders. We’ll get Yildiz back and assess the others.
“Today we showed the mentality of a big team – and we’ll need that again in the next two weeks.” Stadio Olimpico Italy Lazio Juventus
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