Spalletti blames himself for Juventus defeat, clashes with reporter over Europa League | OneFootball

Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti was unsurprisingly in an unpleasant mood after his team’s defeat to Fiorentina, which leaves them on the brink of missing out on Champions League football.

The Bianconeri began the day in third place, but they now find themselves sixth, as every result went against them in Sunday’s early-kickoff batch, including their own.

Despite a flurry of chances, the Old Lady couldn’t find the back of the net when hosting the Viola, who escaped with a 2-0 win thanks to Che Ndour and Rolando Mandragora.

Luciano Spalletti defends Juventus players after Fiorentina defeat

After the contest, the Sky Sport Italia reporter noted that this was a ‘life-or-death’ game for Juventus, an expression that clearly antagonised an already-irritated Spalletti.

“A match to be won, yes. But the matches of life, the real things in life, are something else,” said the 67-year-old in his post-match interview with Sky (via TuttoJuve).

“This idea that everything is lost, everything thrown away, everything finished, we’re all dead — it puts everyone involved in sport, especially football, in a prison. In fact, from now on, we need to push back against it. Of course, this is a terrible result.”

The Juventus boss admitted that his players lacked the right character to negotiate this sort of crucial game, believing he should have done better to prepare them.

“Clearly, today you have to play football and maintain the level of character and personality that this kind of challenge and importance requires. And that’s where discussion can begin.

“The fact of suffering in these moments and not knowing how to react, or perhaps not being in the condition to express the footballing level that matches the quality of player you are, first of all, I have to question myself before speaking about the players.

“I have to analyse myself: did I do everything to put them in the right mental condition? Because in the end, it’s mainly about the mind. Before speaking about them, I have to speak about myself — to myself and to them.”

That being said, Spalletti acknowledged that his team performed badly throughout the match.

“We played a terrible match in many respects. As always, the incident didn’t go our way because we found ourselves 1–0 down when we had barely conceded anything.

“We also hadn’t started well: the first loose balls, the duels that belonged to nobody, we weren’t able to win them and create an atmosphere in a wonderful stadium with fantastic supporters that could help us, because instead we put everyone under pressure and then…”

Spalletti argues with reporter over Europa League ‘failure’

Following his interview with Sky, Spalletti had an even more heated discussion with the DAZN reporter, once again taking issue with the ‘life-or-death’ label, insisting that the importance of the match was blown out of proportion.

“It’s a bit of what hangs over these matches before you go out and play them, because it becomes the match of your life, the match where you throw away the season, the life-or-death match, because these are the headlines given to these games from morning to night.

“In my opinion, we should start reacting to this way of putting pressure on ourselves; those of us who work in this sport should start reacting.”

The interview then took a turn for the worse when Spalletti noted that Juventus would still play in the Europa League if they miss out on the Champions League, and the reporter suggested it would be a failure.

Spalletti: “We’re still in the Europa League. Keep in mind you could have ended up outside the Europa League too, because that’s how it works.”

DAZN: “But that wasn’t your objective.”

Spalletti: “It wasn’t our objective. But if now one of Milan or Roma also misses out… the objective… There are only four places. You like turning people into failures…”

DAZN: “Nobody used the word ‘failure.’”

Spalletti: “It’s the same thing, it’s the same. You give this kind of weight to match results.”

DANZ “But we’re not the ones on the pitch. We report football in an objective way.”

Spalletti: “You say your approach is balanced; I say that players and coaches, from now on, need to start responding to this idea of life-or-death pressure, of having thrown away a season. It’s one incident, today it’s one match. And what were you asking me about this game?”

With only one round remaining, Juventus might need a mini miracle to secure Champions League for next season.