While he didn’t like the attitude of his teammates in the final minutes, Mattia Perin still has a firm belief in the Juventus project.
The second-choice goalkeeper got the nod over Michele Di Gregorio at the Vila del Mare. The 32-year-old made several important saves in the second half to deny Lecce, including a spectacular one on a header, but**could do nothing about the injury-time equalizer**.
Nikola Krstovic sent a square ball to the mouth of the goal, and Ante Rebic was the first to react, slotting it home from close range to deny Perin what would have been a well-deserved clean sheet.
Andrea Cambiaso had opened the scoring for the Old Lady through a deflected shot, but it was all undone when the fullback tried to dribble past several players in the dying ambers of the match, which directly led to the equalizer.
Hence, Perin believes the Bianconeri should have adopted a different approach, but he’s certain they’ll learn from their shortcomings.
“Conceding a goal at the last minute hurts, we should have done better and possessed a different sense of responsibility,” said the former Genoa man in his post-match press conference via IlBianconero.
Mattia Perin Juventus man of the match against Stuttgart
“We are a young but intelligent team, we will learn from our mistakes. We are angry about the goal in the 94th minute, but the past cannot be changed. We must understand what we did wrong and where we need to improve.”
Perin insists Juventus are still navigating in the right direction despite their current skid.
“I am confident that this is the right path. We lacked a bit of attention, when you concede goals you have to evaluate many aspects. I will not dwell on individual errors, as everyone lacked focus and we must improve.
“We firmly believe in our philosophy and in what the coach wants. Controlling the game increases the chances of winning. We play in a highly competitive championship, today we wanted to win but we must applaud Lecce.”