rewrite this title Motta claims Juventus ´lack character´ after AC Milan defeat – Soccer News

Juventus boss Thiago Motta criticised his side’s mentality after they were beaten by AC Milan in the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final on Friday.

Motta’s side led for much of the contest after Kenan Yildiz’s first-half strike but squandered their advantage in the second period, Christian Pulisic and a Federico Gatti own goal doing the damage in the last 20 minutes.

It is the fourth time in eight matches that Juve have taken the lead and not gone on to win, with Motta facing criticism in some quarters for his substitutions.

But the Italian was more inclined to question the character of his players.

He said: “We certainly cannot be happy with what we did, especially in the first half. In the second we also failed to convert chances to kill the game.

“Milan did very little, too, so they should not have been able to win.

“All the choices I make during the match are for the good of the team, it is up to you to judge whether I did it right or not.

“We need to improve our character, because we were in control. Character comes into play when a negative incident happens and you must be able to react. At the first negative incident today, we did not react.”

FT | | Milan advance.#JuveMilan #EASPORTSFCSupercup pic.twitter.com/OfDfRHpMc5

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There is still plenty to achieve this season for Juventus, who sit three points off the top four in Serie A and two points behind the automatic qualification positions in the Champions League table.

They will hope to compete on both fronts with Francisco Conceicao, who withdrew from the starting XI with a muscle injury.

Motta said: “We will evaluate him, he felt a twinge and was not able to start the match.

“He is an important player for us, in the second half we needed something extra and he could’ve given us that.

“We have players who are working very hard and playing a lot, we need to balance out the playing time.”