“We wanted to ruin it for them” – Sassuolo midfielder claims Juventus underestimated them | OneFootball

Sassuolo man Cristian Volpato revelled in his team’s hard-fought draw against Juventus at the Allianz Stadium.

The Bianconeri took an early lead thanks to a swift counter-attack launched by Mattia Perin. The goalkeeper picked up Francisco Conceicao, who set it up for Kenan Yildiz.

The Turkish attacker showcased his clinical touch as he burried the ball in the bottom corner, but he wasn’t able to produce the goods afterwards.

Cristian Volpato explains Sassuolo equaliser against Juventus

After the break, Sassuolo pushed forward and managed to grab an equaliser thanks to a swift sequence of passes and movement that culminated with Andrea Pinamonti’s finish.

Volpato, who played a vital part in the build-up for the goal, explained that he and his teammates often work on these patterns of play on the training ground.

“These are moves we work on a lot in training. Especially against teams like Juventus, who are strong defensively, you have to move the ball quickly to open up space,” said the 22-year-old in his post-match press conference via JuventusNews24.

“It was a nice play, but we’ve already pulled off three or four like that over the course of the season.”

Valpato reveals Sassuolo were keen to dampen the atmosphere at Allianz Stadium

After scoring the equaliser, Sassuolo were able to cling onto the result, mostly thanks to the heroics of their goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, who pulled off a series of fantastic saves, denying close-range headers from Jeremie Boga and Arkadiusz Milik, and more importantly, Manuel Locatelli’s spot-kick.

While Luciano Spalletti insisted that Juventus were never complacent, Volpato admitted that he and his teammates expected their opponents to show signs of overconfidence.

“It was a tough week, but before the match, we told ourselves they probably thought it would be an easy day, and we wanted to ruin that for them.

“They’re a strong side, but we did well here. It was a tough game, but we managed to stay in it.”

Valpato is a Roma youth product who began his career in his native Australia. But while he’s been offered the opportunity to represent the Oceanian nation on the international level, he’s still holding out for an Italy call-up.

“I’ve spoken with the Australia coach, but I grew up watching Italy. I’m waiting for Italy.”