Maurizio Sarri believes Juventus are “physically and mentally tired” after falling to a surprise loss to Udinese on Thursday.
After Matthijs de Ligt put Juve on track to seal the Serie A title, relegation-threatened Udinese fought back. Ilija Nestorovski equalised before Seko Fofana scored a dramatic 92nd-minute winner, leaving Juve six points clear with three games remaining.
Sarri lamented his side’s fatigue amid a busy run of fixtures, after their sixth game already this month.
“In this period, we are physically and mentally tired, and it is a problem common to all,” the Juventus head coach said.
“For this reason, being aggressive is something more tiring and, therefore, now what matters most is order, because the inertia of a game changes very easily.
“It is difficult to keep it throughout the match and sometimes, like today, we lose it.”
Juve will instead get a chance to secure a ninth straight Serie A title when they host Sampdoria on Sunday.
Sarri said his focus was entirely on that clash, not next month’s Champions League meeting with Lyon.
“At the moment I am not thinking about the Champions League, in my mind, there is only Sampdoria and Sunday’s match,” he said.
