Del Neri unhappy at Juve´s failings

Juventus manager Luigi Del Neri was ruing his side’s missed chance to move up the Serie A table after drawing 1-1 with Fiorentina on Saturday.

Del Neri’s side came from one goal down to snatch a point at home after Marco Motta scored an own goal in the fourth minute, before Simone Pepe salvaged the draw for the hosts in the 82nd minute.

The 60-year-old boss was disappointed his side could not close the gap on league leaders AC Milan, who also drew 1-1 on Saturday away to Sampdoria.

Juve remain six points behind Milan in third place.

“Fiorentina did well to take the lead and we were unable to find a leveller despite some good chances in the opening period,” Del Neri told SkySport.

“I saw some great character from my men who battled to the end and I think we got our just reward late on.”

“However, given our objectives, these are two points dropped. We need to win games like these and whilst I’m not really interested in the standings we cannot afford to give our competitors such breathing space.”

Del Neri said Fiorentina’s performance summed up the view that ultra-defensive football ruled the Italian top flight, with frequent draws the result.

“Considering the way we played, I think we dropped two points tonight. We conceded with the Viola’s only shot on target and that was an own goal,” he said.

“Fiorentina did absolutely nothing to win this game. They defended diligently, though.”

Fiorentina manager Sinisa Mihajlovic disagreed with Del Neri, saying his side deserved three points after leading for most of the 90 minutes.

“This evening the boys put in another positive performance and we could have come away with all three points,” Mihajlovic said.

Mihajlovic said he will continue to be more positive in directing the 13th-placed Serie A side up the table.

“We have a number of injury problems right now and this is pulling us back a little. I have always been optimistic, however, and given the performances of late there is every reason to be confident going forward,” he said.