“I don’t think so” – Thiago Motta disagrees with Locatelli, explains Juventus substitutions | OneFootball

Juventus coach Thiago Motta had a different opinion than Manuel Locatelli when it comes to the reasons behind the catastrophic Champions League elimination at the hands of PSV Eindhoven.

The Bianconeri travelled to the Netherlands in the hopes of completing the job after winning the first leg at home by two goals to one. However, the Dutch champions were far superior starting from the second half. They ended up equalizing the score on aggregate and went on to claim their ticket to the Round of 16 thanks to Ryan Flamingo’s winner.

After the contest, Locatelli admitted that the PSV players simply wanted it more, in a controversial comment that irritated the club’s supporters (albeit it certainly felt like it).

Therefore, Motta was in no mood to agree with his newly-appointed club captain, so he rebuffed this claim while suggesting the reasons behind the defeat lie elsewhere.

“I don’t agree (that PSV wanted it more). But when the contest was levelled, they pushed harder, they created opportunities and we did too. It was an open game,” claimed the 42-year-old in his post-match interview with Prime Video (via IlBianconero).

“We didn’t throw anything away, we tried from the first to the last second to overcome the opponent but we weren’t able to be better than them in the whole game. In the end, they deserved it.”

Motta insisted he didn’t delay his substitutions, while revealing his hand was forced on three occasions.

“Renato Veiga’s substitution was compulsory. Koop, the same thing as he had a fever yesterday. He also asked to be substituted, then we put Cambiaso on because he was the only one who could cover this role together with Thuram and he also asked to be substituted because he had been out for a long time and wasn’t feeling well. He felt something so we changed him.

“I don’t think I delayed the substitutions. I wanted to make the substitutions earlier, give the team more energy, but then we equalised.

“There are moments when you have to calm the game down. I think I made the substitutions at the right time”.