Thiago Motta: ‘Stuttgart deserved victory over Juventus’ | OneFootball

Juventus coach Thiago Motta fully admits VfB Stuttgart ‘deserved the victory and were better from the first minute’ after suffering his first defeat on the bench. ‘When you do not control the game, you struggle.’

The Bianconeri had come into this match brimming with confidence after their victories over PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig, the latter won 3-2 when fighting back despite being down to 10 men following the dismissal of Michele Di Gregorio.

Check the player ratings for the match here.

They saw red again this evening, as Danilo received a second yellow card for catching Roualt on the thigh for a late penalty which was saved by second-choice goalkeeper Mattia Perin.

Despite riding that wave, Juve still capitulated in stoppages to former Atalanta striker El Bilal Toure, who danced through the defence.

“Stuttgart certainly deserved it, they were better than us from the first minute. We must digest this defeat as quickly as possible, maybe a night and a day, then get back on our feet to prepare for Inter,” Thiago Motta told Sky Sport Italia.

“We were unable to remove the control of the game that they had. In the first half, they would beat the press with the right-sided centre-back and when you do not control the game, you will struggle. Stuttgart are a tough team to face and they deserved to win.”

Fabio Capello put it to Thiago Motta that the tempo of Italian teams is too slow and therefore easily upset in Europe.

“I don’t think that is the issue. We suffered their tempo today certainly and most of the time they had the initiative. We struggled to impose our style on the game. There are many things to analyse about Italian and international football, there are teams who want to keep the ball, press high and that gives you very little time to rest. This is the level.

“We struggled today, but we can certainly raise our level for the future matches.”

Thiago Motta analyses Juventus problems

TURIN, ITALY – OCTOBER 22: Deniz Undav of VfB Stuttgart challenges for the ball with Danilo of Juventus during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD3 match between Juventus and VfB Stuttgart at Juventus Stadium on October 22, 2024 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

The biggest issue here was the lack of real scoring opportunities created by Thiago Motta’s Juventus, as the injury crisis is beginning to bite.

Nico Gonzalez, Teun Koopmeiners, Gleison Bremer and Arek Milik are out of action, with Douglas Luiz withdrawing in the warm-up, replaced by Khephren Thuram.

The lack of options was made evident by the fact Dusan Vlahovic made way for 18-year-old Vasilije Adzic at the 68th minute.

“Building the squad was shared with the club. I agree we need to do more in attack to compete with a team like Stuttgart, but in order to play well, we need to be much better in defending than tonight,” insisted Thiago Motta.

“We allowed Stuttgart to control the game and when we got the ball back, we struggled to build anything and were not in a condition to do well.

“A team has to defend well so it can recover the ball and then use it well. We suffered out of possession, while the most we managed in attack were a few counters. I take responsibility for that, we must improve for the next games and that starts against Inter.

“We will try to improve what we can improve and keep working.”

This was the first defeat of the campaign for Thiago Motta and not the best way for Juventus to prepare for the Serie A showdown with Inter this weekend.