Vucinic: Don’t question my desire

Juventus striker Mirko Vucinic has defended himself from the criticism thrown at him by his doubters.

The Montenegro international is the club’s top scorer this term in all competitions thanks to 13 strikes in 39 games, but questions were raised about his commitment after the 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich.

“All the strikers at Juventus make sacrifices,” he stated. “We run like crazy, but some people don’t notice these things.

“I’ve been told that I have no desire, but if you look at the Bayern game then you can see that I ran more than I did against Lazio…

“I find the criticism ridiculous.

“I can accept it if people say I play badly, but not if they say that I lack desire and I’m not committed. It’s totally absurd and it hurts.”

Vucinic was in action on Monday during the 2-0 win over Lazio, a game in which he linked up well with Claudio Marchisio as Juve fielded a 3-5-1-1 system.

“Not a great deal changed because Claudio was playing as the second striker and had to stay close to me,” the 29-year-old insisted.

“We played a good game and achieved an important victory, but we won’t talk about the Scudetto until it’s a mathematical certainty.

“You never know in football, so we’re not going to let up.”

The Bianconeri are now 11 points clear with six games left this season.