Antonio Conte praised Juventus for their performance against Real Madrid, remarking that his players did not fear Los Merengues.
The Bianconeri hosted an entertaining 2-2 draw at Juventus Stadium on Tuesday evening in this Champions League Group B encounter.
Juve took the lead through Arturo Vidal’s first-half penalty, before needing Fernando Llorente’s header to pull level after quick-fire goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in the second half had turned the table.
“My team played a great game tonight – we played very well especially in the first half, just like we had planned to,” considered Conte afterwards.
“In the second half we suffered a little at keeping that tempo with such a packed fixture list. When the intensity drops against Real Madrid, you inevitably risk paying the price, especially when Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are running at you on the counter.
“Iker Casillas was Man of the Match in my view and saved Real Madrid on several occasions.
“We deserve more points than we have, but when you face a team like Real Madrid, who have players that can turn the match around in a few minutes, there's not much you can do.
“I am happy because I saw my players fighting on the pitch, they were brave, they did not fear Real Madrid and this is what we have to do because we are growing up.
“We know we have a lot of hard work to do, but we proved on the pitch that we can close the gap on the greatest teams.
“We started this journey not long ago and if you think about that then you have to congratulate my team.
“We can play at their level – we had already proved that in Madrid two weeks ago. We have something to say in this competition.
“I think we feel stronger after this game. We recognise that it's only the pitch that it's decided who is going to win or lose.”