Juventus’ Giorgio Chiellini expects Novara to be as tough to break down as Cesena were on Wednesday evening.

The Old Lady netted three crucial points last night, but they left it late as substitute Marco Borriello grabbed the only goal of the game.

“I’ve always maintained that the toughest ties would be the ones against Cesena and Novara,” stated the defender.

“They’re two teams with nothing to lose, both are looking to redeem themselves and both play on synthetic pitches. You can never take anything for granted in this League.

“Now we’ve won the first of these two games, but there’s still an important crossroad that lies ahead. We certainly didn’t underestimate Cesena, but it becomes tough when you’re not able to break the deadlock.”

Juve - who play Novara next - did have an opportunity to open the scoring after being handed a penalty, but Andrea Pirlo missed his second spot-kick in two games.

“The penalty could have changed the game, but we remained clear-headed,” the 27-year-old continued.

“We attacked and believed we could do it right until the end. Perhaps we didn’t create clear-cut chances, but we were always on the attack.”