VERONA, Italy (Reuters) – Juventus showed great team effort when they actively engaged in pressing the opponent, manager Thiago Motta said after they beat Verona 3-0 in Serie A on Monday, praising his players for the job well done.
Juventus delivered another brilliant performance to move to the top of the standings, after they beat promoted Como 3-0 last week in their season opener.
“You can see the group’s attitude from the way they press the opponent. They take risks, but if you recover the ball it’s a big advantage,” Motta told DAZN.
“Congratulations to Dusan (Vlahovic), but also to all the others who applied good pressure allowing us to score.
“This phase of the game is important, we need everyone. Today our forwards worked hard and well, having this balance is very important because it leads us to play games like tonight’s.”
Striker Vlahovic scored twice to help Juventus secure a comfortable victory.
“A positive leader in the group,” Motta added.
“He played for the team, doing a lot of movement and above all he is a player who knows how to score goals. I am satisfied with him, he must continue like this.”
Netting his first Serie A goal since April, the Serbian forward seemed relieved to have been back on target.
“We got the three points, I’m happy for (Nicolo) Savona, for the team and for the fans,” Vlahovic said.
“I was a bit unlucky with Como, but today the goals arrived and I’m happy with the attitude of the team. The results are the consequence of the work we do.”
The 24-year-old, who was the league’s second-best scorer last season with 16 goals, had a series of chances against Como including a goal ruled out for offside.
At Verona, Vlahovic looked well positioned to bag a hat-trick, coming close to flicking Savona’s header inside the net with his own head.
“Vlahovic told me he didn’t touch it, he left it to me and I’m very happy, especially for the team’s victory,” Savona said.
“(Scoring was) definitely a dream, let’s hope we continue like this”.
Savona, 21, made his first starting line-up against Verona after coming on from the bench at halftime last week.
(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
