Conte: 'Juve are only human'

Antonio Conte was stunned by the home defeat to 10-man Sampdoria, but admits Juventus “are only human.”

The Bianconeri had taken the lead and seen Gaetano Berardi sent off after just 32 minutes, but a Mauro Icardi brace sealed the shock 2-1 result in Turin.

“I am not bursting with joy when I lose,” he confessed. “I struggle to absorb defeat and we will not look back fondly over this match. We had the advantage and deserved to be in front.

“This is a game that we must reflect on and will help us to grow up. It’s part of the maturation process for a young side, let’s put it like that.

“It is certainly irritating to lose on counter-attacks and we will analyse what we did wrong today. Juventus are only human, we are not martians.

“There are two tough months ahead of us and we’ve got to grit our teeth to give our all. We created a great deal in the second half, but were not particularly precise in our finishing.

“Sampdoria did well to close up, but were also a little lucky. We tip our hats to them, as it wasn’t easy for them to win here with 10 men and a goal down.”

Samp almost went down to nine when Angelo Palombo appeared to shove Alessandro Matri, but the referee waved play on.

“I think it was a clear penalty on Matri,” said Conte. “I chose not to include Arturo Vidal so he could rest for the Coppa Italia Quarter-Final against Milan.”

There are also concerns for Claudio Marchisio, who was stretchered off in agony clutching his knee.

He had a knock and continued for at least 10 minutes through the pain because the substitutions had been completed, but eventually had to give in.

no problem, accept the defeat, learn from mistakes and move on!
grande juve! grande conte!