Juve hail fighting spirit that takes them second

Juventus coach Luigi Delneri and centre-back Giorgio Chiellini have spoken of the self-belief and determination that saw the club move up to second in Serie A.

Juve’s Serbian winger Milos Krasic scored with almost the last kick of the match to earn a 2-1 win over Lazio on Sunday night.

That took them above their opponents and Napoli on goal difference and leaves them six points behind leaders AC Milan with one match left before the Serie A winter break.

“We won with the last burst of strength we had, but over the 94 minutes we showed the quality to have got that winner sooner,” said Delneri.

“We deserved to win, we gave Lazio few chances. And scoring in the 94th minute is very emotional.

“We showed our strength of character and our desire to do well.”

And Delneri believes this spirit could see them land a first title since 2003.

“A success such as this and in this way gives you an important push. We could have drawn but we kept pushing to the end, showing courage, application and intensity.

“That’s a comfort for the future. If we continue with this spirit we can go a long way.

“We’ll fight to the death but we’re not going to kid ourselves.”

However, Chiellini, who scored the opening goal just two minutes into the game, said it would be difficult to catch Milan, who have won 10 out of their last 12 Serie A matches — although one of those they didn’t win was a home defeat to Juve.

“It was crucial to win, moving up to second is an important step,” he said.

“Milan are having a season all of their own but we’re having a great season.”

Juve have been steadily improving this season and are unbeaten in their last 12 league games and their last 16 in all competitions.

They are also unbeaten in nine Europa League games in this campaign but they have drawn their last five in the group stages and that was enough to see them eliminated from the competition even before Thursday’s final group meeting against Manchester City.

In fact it is their number of draws that has been the problem this season: 11 in 25 matches in all competitions.

They have lost only twice in the league, the same as Milan, but have drawn three more games.