Real Madrid 2-1 Juventus
Antonio Conte and Carlos Tevez shared the disappointment in losing 2-1 to Real Madrid, a result which compromises Juventus’ hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
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While Conte was critical of some refereeing decisions, not least the red card for Giorgio Chiellini, Tevez said the blame should instead be sought from within the team.
“We can’t blame it on the referee,” said the Argentine. “We’ve got to look at ourselves, not him. We made mistakes which we cannot afford to make and if you make mistakes like that, then you can’t blame the referee.
“Now we’ve got to think about the league and play our coming games the way we played the first half here.”
It was the first time the Bianconeri have lost two games in a row since manager Antonio Conte took charge over two years ago.
Conte was disappointed with the refereeing, after Real were awarded a penalty before Juve’s Chiellini was sent off after his arm caught Ronaldo’s face, but he saw enough positives in his team’s performance.
“Maybe it’s best to have a refereeing decision go against you and to play well than to have a decision go for you, but play badly,” Conte said. “The game was decided by several incidents, but aside from the refereeing decisions which conditioned us, we’ve got to look forwards.
“I see the glass half full and we’ve showed that we can compete at levels like this. Everybody was talking of a disastrous Juventus, but I think we did well tonight. Sometimes the refereeing decisions go your way, sometimes they go against you.”
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was philosophical in his post-game press conference — accepting the sending off had played a major role in the game, but saying the referee was in charge on the pitch and everyone must accept his calls.
“The game changed, but I do not make judgements on refereeing decisions,” Ancelotti said. “There is not just one official, but five. Whatever they say is what happens. One decision went against Juve, but you must accept his decisions.”
Juventus’ goalscorer Fernando Llorente suggested the German official had ruined what had been a good match, and that Ronaldo had not helped by making the most of any slight contact from Chiellini.
“We feel bad because the referee has ruined the game with the sending off,” Llorente told Canal Plus after the final whistle. “It was a nice game, but he left us without a chance. There was nothing in what happened. It was very exaggerated.”
The Spain international also suggested he was also not happy with Grafe’s decision to punish Chiellini for a tug on Sergio Ramos’ shirt inside the area, but said Juventus would move on now and fight to get the points they need to qualify for the last 16.
“The penalty was very rigorous,” Llorente said. “But it is not worth crying about. We must battle hard now if we want to keep going in the Champions League. We played a serious game, despite the mistakes of the referee.”
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