Soccer Football - Serie A - Inter Milan v Juventus - San Siro, Milan, Italy - October 27, 2024 Juventus' Weston McKennie talks to coach Thiago Motta REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
(Reuters) - Manager Thiago Motta acknowledged that Juventus are not in the Serie A title race just yet and emphasised the importance of maintaining focus on their growth after they secured a dramatic 4-4 draw with champions Inter Milan thanks to two late goals on Sunday.
With Juventus trailing 4-2, teenager Kenan Yildiz came off the bench and scored twice to rescue a point for his team.
Their inability to dominate proceedings led Motta to acknowledge that his players were a long way off from challenging for the Scudetto.
"Not at this moment. We delivered a solid performance against one of the favourites for the Scudetto, alongside Napoli, who have maintained the core of their squad from a year and a half ago," Motta told DAZN.
"Right now, they’re ahead and capable of competing until the end for the title. While today was a good performance, we need to keep our feet on the ground.
"We’ll continue on our path, sticking to our ideas and our growth process. We’ll see what we’re capable of when the time comes. I’m being honest; I speak as things are."
Motta said he had mixed emotions about the result.
"We sought something more in terms of both play and the right spirit; we wanted a different outcome after a first half filled with unfortunate incidents," he said.
"They could have increased their lead but didn’t, and in the end, we could have won it. However, we need to understand why we perform well at times and struggle against the opponent’s game at others."
Substitute Yildiz, 19, secured the draw after coming on late in the match, with
Motta defended his decision to start with Timothy Weah rather than the 19-year-old Yildiz.
"I chose Timothy Weah (to start) because he could offer something interesting for us in transitions. Kenan can help the team in the second half by providing different options, whether as a winger, midfielder, or striker," Motta said.
"We know we have young players, but we believe we can perform much better than we did today. It’s clear that the many absences may have had an impact; it’s not an excuse, but a fact."
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
