“I feel ashamed, the fans were too kind ” – Thiago Motta furious with Juventus players | OneFootball

Thiago Motta has finally lost it with Juventus players following the woeful Coppa Italia elimination at the hands of Empoli.

The Bianconeri were handed a relatively easy path towards the final in a competition that represented their best chance to earn silverware this season, but somehow managed to scuff it.

The home side was wasteful in the early going and were punished for their shortcomings when Youssouf Maleh took the lead with a superb shot from the outside of the box. The Azzurri had several chances to double their lead but failed to make the most of it.

Khephren Thuram restored parity with a brilliant solo effort in the second period, but the Old Lady failed to win the winner, and eventually fell short in the penalty shoutouts.

So suffering their second elimination in the space of a week, Motta was absolutely irritated by his players, while also taking responsibility for failing to properly prepare them for the contest from a psychological standpoint.

“I feel completely responsible, I’m ashamed of what we saw on the pitch,” said the 42-year-old in his post-match interview (via the official Juventus website).

“In the first half, there was a complete lack of the required attitude, it means that I didn’t convey to the boys what it means to play in a game like that in a Juventus shirt. You can misplace passes, you can miss shots. But you can’t lack the correct attitude. It was a very important game for us and we got it completely wrong. We as a team have to do much better than we did in the first half.”

The Allianz Stadium faithful whistled and jeered on several occasions, including the full-time whistle. Nevertheless, Motta insists he and his team deserved a much worse treatment.

“I hope the criticism is really scathing. I think our fans were too kind to us after they saw in the first half, too kind. I hope for an immediate reaction from these players, because I repeat, I feel ashamed of what I saw in the team and a huge responsibility on my part because I didn’t make them understand the importance of the match.”

Finally, the manager apologised to the fans as he admits the club has now hit rock bottom.

“We passed back twenty times to the goalkeeper without taking responsibility, looking down, this is unacceptable. We apologise to the fans, to the club, to the history of this club because we’ve hit rock bottom.”