Motta praises Juve spirit after thrilling fightback at Leipzig

Thiago Motta hailed Juventus’ team spirit after they shrugged off two injuries and Michele Di Gregorio’s red card to secure a thrilling 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig.

Juventus, who are yet to concede a goal in Serie A this season, twice had to fight back from a goal down before securing the win with a late goal from Francisco Conceicao.

They endured a nightmare start as captain Bremer and winger Nicolas Gonzalez were both withdrawn after suffering injuries.

They then went down to 10 men when Di Gregorio was dismissed for handling outside his area, but Dusan Vlahovic’s brace had them level before Conceicao showed great feet to tuck home an 82nd-minute winner.

“It was a good match, even in the first half where we made some mistakes in the details,” said Motta.

“In the second half, we did better, even playing with 10 men. It was a great performance and a great win.

“Courage from the boys, they were determined to push forward and hurt the opponents.

“Even with a man down, we had that feeling, so why step back? We kept pushing, and we did it well right until the last minute.”

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Two-goal hero Vlahovic echoed those sentiments, saying: “I’m really happy, especially for the team. We are becoming a real unit.

“We fought together, kept pressing even when we were down to 10 men, and in the end, we deserved to win. It was a great match, and fortunately, we came out on top.”