Maurizio Sarri’s Comments after Matthijs de Ligt’s Own Goal

NANJING, CHINA - JULY 24: FC Internazionale players celebrate their first goal scored by Matthijs de Ligt of Juventus during the International Champions Cup match between Juventus and FC Internazionale at the Nanjing Olympic Center Stadium on July 24, 2019 in Nanjing, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/International Champions Cup/Getty Images)

Matthijs de Ligt

DBasia.news –  The Derby D’Italia between Juventus against Inter Milan in the International Champions Cup which took place at the Nanjing Olimpic Sports Center, Wednesday (24/7) evening WIB, ended for Juventus’ victory.

Playing a 1-1 draw in normal time, Juve trailed first through an own goal by Matthijs de Ligt who wrongly anticipated Stefani Sensi’s corner in the 10th minute. Luckily, Cristiano Ronaldo managed to equalize in the 68th minute.

A draw in normal time has made the winner be determined through a penalty shootout, Gianluigi Buffon appeared mighty by thwarting three penalties by Andrea Ranocchia, Samuel Longo and Borja Valero. Although Adrien Rabiot and Federico Bernadeschi also failed to carry out their duties, the Bianconeri remained to be winners with a score of 4-3.

Despite the success of winning, the performance of the Serie A defending champions remained in the spotlight, especially De Ligt who even scored an own goal on his debut match. However, Maurizio Sarri as coach did not want to be botherrd by it and did not blame the Dutch player at all.

“Matthijs de Ligt played when the team was in the worst period of the match, but he was not at all responsible for that,” Sarri said as quoted by Goal.

“It was very normal, we were trying to keep improving the team’s mentality. I made a mistake the morning before the match. The team could still develop, especially in terms of pressure to be able to control the ball while defending. We also need to always be focused and to not allow the opponents to be behind the team, “added the 60-year-old man.

After beating Inter, Juventus will soon be preparing to play the next game, they will challenge the South Korean team on July 26.