The manager of Juventus, Igor Tudor, expressed his frustration yet praised his team’s commitment after they settled for a 1-1 draw against Lazio in Serie A on Saturday, with a last-minute header from Matias Vecino denying them a crucial victory in the Champions League qualification race.
Randal Kolo Muani gave the fourth-placed visitors the lead shortly after half-time. However, Lazio, currently level on points with Juve at 64 in fifth, seized the momentum when Pierre Kalulu received a straight red card just after the hour mark.
With Juventus down to ten men, they dug deep in defence, but Vecino’s equaliser in the dying moments of added time left Tudor lamenting yet another missed opportunity.
“We need to commend the players; there’s a sense of regret because we were just a minute away from taking home all three points,” Tudor told the media.
“It was a robust performance, and we’ll take this point as we turn our focus to the challenges ahead this week, especially considering the issues we’ve faced.”
Juve and Lazio find themselves a point clear of sixth-placed AS Roma, who could overtake both in the standings on Monday when they face third-placed Atalanta, who have accumulated 68 points.
When questioned about Kalulu’s dismissal – the 24-year-old’s first career red card, much like 20-year-old Kenan Yildiz’s in their last home game – Tudor pointed to the inexperience of a youthful squad still adapting to high-pressure situations.
“Undoubtedly, age and pressure are intertwined, and when you lack experience, these things can occur,” the Croatian coach remarked. “We paid the price for our mistakes, but these are lessons learned quickly as we move forward.”
Tudor also addressed his substitutions of Vasilije Adzic and Francisco Conceicao for Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Gatti respectively, a decision that raised some eyebrows.
“I need to clarify the substitutions; they’re always in the team’s best interests,” he explained. “I even apologised to both players – which is not something I usually do – but it was the right call.”
“Gatti, in particular, deserves recognition. He came off the bench without having trained and displayed great leadership.”
With defensive injuries piling up ahead of Juve’s upcoming match against Udinese at home next week, Tudor maintained a composed outlook, focusing on the task ahead.
“We’ll do our utmost to prepare with the resources we have, but we are ready,” he stated. “We’ll see who is able to recover – we’re missing three defenders. Yildiz will return, and we’ll assess the others.”
“Today we displayed the mentality of a strong team – and we’ll need that again in the upcoming two weeks.”
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