Andrea Pirlo says a Serie A defeat by Internazionale helped his Juventus side address their issues and earn revenge with a 2-1 semi-final first-leg victory against their rivals in the Coppa Italia.
The Italian champions were outplayed in a 2-0 defeat at San Siro on 17 January, but have won five consecutive games since including this comeback victory on Tuesday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice following a Lautaro Martínez’s opener to help Juve to put one foot in the final ahead of the second leg in Turin on 9 February.
Looking back on the league meeting with Inter, Pirlo told Rai Sport: “We weren’t in that game, but it served as a lesson for us. From there we regrouped, worked on the errors and more victories arrived. But tonight was the first round, there’s another game to come and it’s played over 180 minutes. Nothing is done yet.
“The guys were great, they faced Inter with the right attitude from the first minute. We went behind, but we continued to play. There was a great reaction from the team.”
Ronaldo appeared unhappy when he was substituted in the 76th minute, but Pirlo explained he wanted to keep his Portuguese talisman fresh for a busy period of fixtures. “I told him that he had to come off because we have an important game on Saturday [against Roma in Serie A], so it’s right to let him catch his breath,” Pirlo said. “He’s playing many games consecutively, so every now and then a little bit of rest does some good.”
Inter’s manager, Antonio Conte, wasn’t happy with the result after Ashley Young conceded a penalty before a defensive mixup between Samir Handanovic and Alessandro Bastoni helped to put another goal on a plate for Ronaldo.
“We committed two naive errors that allowed them to go 2-1 up,” Conte said. “Otherwise it was another great performance, with many chances created. But we need to finish them, because now we’re talking about a negative result. The guys gave everything, they had Juve on the ropes, they deserved a lot more.”