Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini, after playing his part in a memorable 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur (Juve qualified 4-3 on aggregate), let rip at the Lilywhites, claiming that the Bianconeri targeted their mental fragility and suspect defence to progress to the quarters of the UEFA Champions League.
With (Harry) Kane, (Dele) Alli and many others, we knew Spurs are a side with many excellent forwards,” Chiellini stated in his post-match interview to BT Sport.
“But we know they will concede many chances”, Chiellini expressed on multiple occasions to make it clear he was making a point.
After the first leg in Turin had ended in a 2-2 draw, many had pegged Spurs as slight favourites to progress due to the fact that they had two away goals in the bag.
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And Lilywhites winger Heung-Min Son would fire the hosts into a 1-0 lead on the night (3-2 on aggregate) to put the Bianconeri in a bit of bother, but the Italian giants responded with a quick-fire double as Spurs switched off and paid the price as they exited the elite competition at a relatively-early stage.
Notably, Chiellini gave his entire interview in English to the British broadcaster, not in his native Italian so there could be no mistake in translation and the veteran defender was quite fluent as he continued,”Tottenham have always created many chances to score – but they miss always something at the end”.
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Paris Saint-Germain, relative upstarts in the UEFA Champions League, saw their dream go up in smoke at the hands of defending champions Real Madrid and Chiellini said Tuesday’s tie between Les Parisiens and Los Blancos proved that experience at this stage is invaluable.
“We believe in the history – we saw it yesterday between Paris and Real. The history is important, with experience it is important and we used our skill,” the 33-year-old Chiellini added with a sense of finality.