Luciano Spalletti on Juventus’ 5-2 loss to Galatasaray: “Three steps backwards”

Juventus manager Luciano Spalletti offered a scathing evaluation of his side following their heavy 5-2 defeat to Galatasaray in the first leg of the Champions League play-off.

In a chat with Sky Italia, the coach was visibly frustrated with the regression shown by his players in Istanbul. Spalletti did not hold back when discussing the overall performance, stating – via TMW:

“We ended the first half badly, trying to put some order back but we dropped from a point of view of personality and character. We took not one step, but three steps back.”

The manager specifically highlighted the defensive lapse from Lloyd Kelly that allowed the Turkish side to extend their lead in the second half. Regarding the English defender’s mistake on the third goal, Spalletti said: “I always want to play in normal situations, then when there is extreme danger you throw it away. I can’t understand, this fact of always playing the ball means inside the field. It’s clear that there he had to throw it away, it’s not true that you always have to play it because sometimes it must be relieved.”

Spalletti also addressed his decision to withdraw Andrea Cambiaso, explaining that the player’s disciplinary situation was a factor. He remarked: “Clear, he had already risked in the first half. In these matches it is good to manage those situations, but we paid the price after twenty minutes of the second half. The double yellow card [for Cabal] created difficulties for us, then we contributed to it by not realizing the danger of what we were doing.”