04 March 2016
They say that people can learn more from their mistakes than from their successes in certain circumstances and perhaps that is the best way to reflect on Wednesday’s 3-0 normal-time loss and eventual penalty shoot-out victory over Inter in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.
From Juan Cuadrado’s point of view, discussing the Bianconeri’s midweek encounter at the San Siro and looking ahead to Sunday’s Serie A trip to Atalanta with Sky Sports Italia and Mediaset this afternoon, the lessons learnt from that Inter defeat will only serve to redouble his team’s efforts and determination for the rest of the season.
“Inter played very well on Wednesday night and capitalised on one of our weaker performances of the season so far,” he began. “All that matters now is that we have a Coppa Italia final to look forward to and that will keep us motivated until the end of the campaign.
“The key now is to tackle each game with the right mindset and make sure we are just as focused from one week to the next.”
With the first of the campaign’s objectives already ticked off, the Colombian has called on his team-mates to turn attentions to the second, that of lifting the Serie A title for a fifth consecutive time, beginning with Sunday’s meeting with Atalanta in Bergamo.
He continued, “We want to make top spot our own but doing so certainly won’t be easy. We have to make sure that we keep our intensity levels high both on Sunday and right through until June because the season is far from over and there are a handful of very good teams in hot pursuit.
“One of our objectives, reaching a cup final, has been ticked off and now our focus can switch back to making sure we remain in first place in Serie A.”
Consecutive victories over Atalanta this Sunday and Sassuolo the following Friday would indeed bring mission Scudetto that little bit closer to completion and set Juve up perfectly for the delicately-poised return leg of the Champions League against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
For Juan, when the time comes to begin focusing on Bayern, the Bianconeri will be more than ready for the challenge if last month’s rousing second-half comeback against the German champions at Juventus Stadium is anything to go by.
He concluded, “There’ll be time to think about Bayern after our next two testing league fixtures against Atalanta and Sassuolo. When that time does come, we’ll head to Munich in the knowledge that we have the quality to reach the quarter-finals.
“Our fight back in the first half was crucial and we need to recreate that commitment and aggression right from the off next time. The closing stages at Juventus Stadium proved that we are a huge club too and that we can take on anyone on our day.”
