Bitter Del Neri: Game should have been called off

Juventus manager Luigi Del Neri believes his side’s match with Lech Poznan in Poland on Wednesday should have been called off.

The two sides played in bitterly cold conditions as the temperature dropped to well below freezing point in Poland.

An orange ball was required after half-time after a layer of snow fell on the pitch, and Del Neri believes the game should have been stopped.

“It was absolutely not a ‘regular’ game and play should’ve been stopped in these conditions, as you couldn’t even see the lines on the pitch,” Del Neri said.

Vincenzo Iaquinta’s assured finish with six minutes remaining gave Juventus a chance but, needing victory to remain in the competition, they fell short.

Lech Poznan took the lead after Artjoms Rudnevs – scorer of a hat-trick when the sides met in Italy in September – scored an early header.

The result was Juventus’ fifth successive draw in Europe and meant they dropped out of the Europa League, despite Del Neri thinking they were the better team in Poland.

“We deserved to win. We did everything we possibly could tonight, wasting five or six scoring opportunities,” he said.

“With different weather, we probably would’ve won and even in this state we battled to the end.”

Del Neri admitted his side’s failure to win in Poland was not why they missed out on qualification, preferring to focus on his side’s two matches against Red Bull Salzburg.

“It’s a shame, but this was not the decisive result, though. We weren’t eliminated here and should’ve done better in previous matches,” he said.

“There are regrets, as we wanted to do well in this competition. Unfortunately football is strange. In any case, without midweek games we can now hope to recover a few more injured players.”

Del Neri’s side sits third in the Serie A and face Catania on Sunday.