Juventus head coach Maurizio Sarri has spoken about the “blackout” his side experienced in their capitulation to Milan in the Serie A on Tuesday night (July 7).
La Vecchia Signora were firmly on track to record a routine win at the Guiseppe Mezza against Rossoneri, where two goals in the space of six minutes from Adrien Rabiot and Cristiano Ronaldo gave the defending champions a 2-0 lead through 53 minutes.
Milan then launched an astonishing comeback, netting three times in five minutes to take a 3-2 lead before Ante Rebic sealed the incredible comeback with 10 minutes remaining. Sarri identified positives in Juventus’ display on the hour but described most of the remaining half-hour as a ‘total blackout’.
“I think our first 60 minutes were world-class. We were in total control and had this blackout,” Sarri told DAZN.
“There’s not even much use thinking too much about it, because we have another game in three days.
“We had a total blackout for 15 minutes. It has happened to other teams in this period. We have to take the positives from the game, which are that we were in total control for an hour.
“It’s usually not even possible to find the reasons for these inexplicable blackouts.”
“We had some bad performances and quite rightly lost them, but this is not the case now. We played well this evening.
“I’ve seen many other teams have similar blackouts lately because it’s an unusual situation to be playing and training in these temperatures, with so many games, close together.
“Sitting here trying to over-analyse it or put ourselves on trial could be counter-productive and make us lose all the good work we’ve done so far.
“It’s completely different to the defeats against Verona and Napoli, so we have to focus on the next match. This is a team that has excellent football in its capabilities and that is what we need to build on.”
Despite the loss – which saw Juve concede four goals to Milan for the first time since 1989 – the Scudetto holders remain seven points clear atop the table with seven matches left to play.
