29 February 2016
Alex Sandro has only been a Juventus player since mid-August, but you would not know it primarily by watching him play but also by hearing him speak.
The footballing side of things was made perfectly evident last night against Inter in the latest of a series of buccaneering and aggressive showings from the Brazilian and that of buying into Juve’s winning mentality would come this afternoon as the flying wing-back sat down with Sky Sports Italia to discuss what remains of the season ahead.
The context? This evening’s encounter between Fiorentina and Napoli at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence. While a Viola victory would indeed deal a decisive blow to the Bianconeri’s immediate title challengers, speculation over tonight’s result will be left purely to the supporters.
“Obviously Juventus fans will be hoping that Fiorentina do us a favour against Napoli tonight,” he began. “However for us as players, all we should do is think about our own results and our own performances.
“Juve are a huge club with a great history and subsequently we should be pushing to win every bit of silverware possible. Each new player that arrives here from elsewhere knows that they are a winning team and that they will fight to win every single game.”
Such drive and determination have undoubtedly allowed the Bianconeri’s recent results to speak for themselves - sixteen wins out of seventeen league games since October – and key to that stunning spell has been the relentlessly consistent form of their South American star roaming down the left.
For the 25-year-old, however, credit for his excellent start in the black and white of Juventus must be shared with his team-mates and the never-say-die attitude emanating from the dressing room.
“I feel I’ve grown already as a player since arriving and, which is little wonder given the quality, focus and experience we have brimming throughout the squad. As a group, the boys and indeed the coach have helped me massively. Session after session, match after match, I feel I’m improving all the time.”
Turning attentions to Europe, while he did not feature in Tuesday’s epic 2-2 Champions League draw with Bayern Munich, Alex Sandro would conclude the brief media meeting with an insider’s view on how best to defeat the German league leaders, having achieved the feat himself with former club Porto in last season’s quarter-finals first leg in Portugal.
“We knew we would have to dig deep and defend bravely in spells against Bayern and going forward we are confident that we will do even better in Munich.
“To defeat them you need to have a very clear game plan in mind and execute it to the letter. You must always treat games like that as if they were the final itself. The least we can do is enter the tie with that high level of focus and determination.”
With this current Juventus side, that should already be a given.
