19 March 2015
"I wanted to come out here and praise the coach," were Juventus CEO Giuseppe Marotta's first words as he spoke to journalists after the Bianconeri beat Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in Germany.
"He joined the club amidst a great deal of scepticism but he's succeeded in keeping this team moving forward. We're top of the league in Italy and we're through to the next round of the Champions League, a key milestone for us this season. That's why I wanted to commend the coach and the players for the way they handled this game."
Marotta won't be attending the quarter-final draw in Nyon on Friday. "Pavel Nedved will go. He normally gets lucky at these draws," the CEO explained.
Asked whether being pitted against Porto or Monaco would be considered 'getting lucky', he continued: "All the teams still in this competition are tough propositions. It's a random draw and so that obviously entails an element of luck, but then you also need that luck to last over the 180 minutes of the tie."
Many observers have noted how different this Juve side is compared to the one that exited the Champions League in earlier rounds in previous years. "The team I saw out there tonight knew exactly how to approach this game. They've matured since a couple of seasons ago. They've grown together and the proof of that was there for all to see today."
How far can Juve go now? "We have to believe in ourselves and look forward with optimism. Having come this far, we'll try to go all the way. If we get a spot of luck in the draw, I'm sure we can keep on winning. We're happy with the result tonight but we don't want to stop here. I think it's in the Juve DNA to always aim higher.
"This new Agnelli era has seen us take our rightful place up on that stage again. We've restored our reputation to one that is fitting for a club of Juve's history and tradition."
Finally, Marotta commented on the Bianconeri's other targets for the season: "Don't forget we haven't won the league yet and we still have the second leg of our Coppa Italia semi-final to play – we're not out of that cup yet either. We believe we can go through there too.
"Hopefully besides any luck we might get at the draw, we won't be too unfortunate with injuries either."
