DBasia.news – Maurizio Sarri praised Cristiano Ronaldo for being “extraordinary” after a pair of penalties helped Juventus draw 2-2 at home to Atalanta on Sunday (12/7) AM.
Ronaldo completed two penalty kicks in Turin in an overnight match as Juve took another step towards the Serie A title.
The Portugal international player equalized Duvan Zapata’s opening goal before securing a point in the 90th minute after Ruslan Malinovskiy had a chance to restore Atalanta’s lead.
Sarri, whose team is eight points clear at the top with six matches remaining, praised Ronaldo’s ability for handling the pressure.
“He is a champion with his feet but also with his head,” Sarri said at a press conference session.
“He managed to deal with the pressure he had in an extraordinary way.”
Juventus during last night’s match after losing 4-2 to AC Milan at the start of the week, and have now maintained a nine-point advantage over third-place, Atalanta.
Sarri felt that Juventus deserved the points, and they will have another match next Wednesday against Sassuolo.
“Tonight is earned through sweat and we deserve it. We drew against one of the best teams in Europe, and this is an important result, “Sarri continued.
“In the second half we attacked Atalanta, while focusing on their physical decline, and scored in our best moment.
“The match in Milan, where we played well for a while, made us useless. In the first round we experienced difficulties, but in the second half we performed well.
“The race to the Scudetto has never been closed, there are still 18 points that can be won. It’s a challenging phase this season, a very tight match, and it is difficult to find continuity [performance]. “
Meanwhile, Atalanta coach, Gian Piero Gasperini thinks his team deserves three points.
“I am clearly more proud. We played well in the first round and in the second half there was a revival from Juve,” he said in a press conference session.
“But with our game, we managed to lead and play a great game too. Of course, we are also disappointed because we really deserved to win. However, in football, your performance is not always enough.”