Thiago Motta says he has an "extraordinary relationship" with Dusan Vlahovic after he proved Juventus' match-winner against Cagliari. (More Football News)
The Serbia striker made it 🤡50 goal involve꧒ments in 95 Serie A appearances for Juve with a 12th-minute winner in a 1-0 triumph at Sardegna Arena on Sunday.
It was Vlahovic's first Juve start since January 29 but Juve boss Motta hailed the impact of the striker, who was thwarted on a couple of other oc❀casions as Juve racked up a fourth straight league win.
"He plays because🐲 he deserves it. We have an extraordinary relationship. He has a strong character and mentality," he told DAZN.
&🐓quot;Today, he showed great professionalism and helps his teammates. It’s easy to manage a champion like hiᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚm."
Motta, though, was not altogether enamoured by Juve's finishing on the whole, with his si✨de racking up a series of mis♎sed chances, particularly in a dominant first half.
"𒁏We had so many chances in the first half, we went into the break knowing that it would be a problem not finishing it off and inevitably we then suffered," Motta added.
"We lacked a bit of clarity in the second half, we suffered wit🌟hout conceding much, but without dominating like in the first half. Cagliari took over the pitch, and we can't allow our opponents to do all🙈 that."
Juve were dumped out꧋ of the Champions League in the play-off round by PSV in midweek but are now i🎀nto the top four in Serie A and eight points adrift of leaders Inter.
Motta says his side will just take things one game at a time as they try to belatedly muscl𓄧e in on the title pict♑ure.
"We have to take it one 🔴game at a time, especially now that we are getting into the crunch period of the season," added Motta.
"It is a very balanced league and we’ve seen the top teams str🐭uggle this weekend too."
