Juventus must respond to Coppa Italia exit against Lazio, says Bremer

  /  autty

Juventus defender Bremer has urged his team-mates to respond to the club's Coppa Italia exit in midweek against Lazio in Serie A. 

Luciano Spalletti's team were dumped out of the competition at the quarter-final stage following a 3-0 defeat away to Atalanta, ensuring there would not be a 23rd crown. 

But attention now returns to domestic action, with Lazio the visitors to Allianz Stadium on Sunday, with Juventus hoping to consolidate their spot in the top four. 

Juventus have lost just one of their last nine league games, with their latest result in Serie A seeing them beat Parma 4-1 thanks to an unlikely double from Bremer. 

However, the Brazilian was keen to stress the importance of bouncing back from their loss against Atalanta, citing that the team must improve in the final third. 

"It happened against Cagliari and Lecce too, so we have to improve on taking our chances," Bremer said. 

"We have just started this new era with the coach, so we are on the right track, even if we made mistakes against Atalanta. 

"We also must apologise to the fans, because a 3-0 result is too much, but we've got to get right back on track from the next game."

Spalletti had several players to call upon against Atalanta, with the likes of Teun Koopmeiners, Jeremie Boga and Lois Openda all introduced off the bench. 

However, it was Atalanta's substitutes who made the greater impact. Kamaldeen Sulemana and Mario Pasalic both scored while Raoul Bellanova grabbed an assist. 

"Stepping up a level is also down to the way the whole group trains. We have a few defects, as many teams do, but I feel that we are a team," Spalletti added.

"We need to recognise these moments of a match that can become decisive, because if you look at the number of chances we had, the result seems like a false reflection of it. 

"We lost 3-0, so it seems odd to say the lads worked hard and put in a good performance.

"What I didn't like was in the closing stages we all got spread out and tried to find a breakthrough individually, so we lost organisation too much. We lost some unity."

Lazio come into this game off the back of a 3-2 win over Genoa last Friday, a result that moved Maurizio Sarri's side above Udinese and into eighth in the table. 

Following their league game with Juventus, they face Coppa Italia holders Bologna in the quarter-finals, with the winners facing Atalanta for a place in the showpiece match. 

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Juventus – Bremer

Despite playing just 13 games, Bremer has already been involved in five goals (three goals and two assists) and has never done better in a single Serie A season (also five in 2020-21 and 2022-23).

The Brazilian, along with Leo Ostigard (+2), are one of only two defenders who have scored more goals than they have been dribbled past by opposition in the top flight this term.

Lazio – Pedro

Pedro is set to make his 150th Serie A appearance for Lazio in their next match, with all of these appearances coming aged 34 or over.

Only Javier Zanetti (227), Samir Handanovic (161) and Rodrigo Palacio (153), have featured in as many games after reaching this age in the competition among foreign players in the three-points-for-a-win era (since the 1994-95 season). 

Related: Juventus Lazio Atalanta Luciano Spalletti Gleison
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