Federico Chiesa hails Juventus 'spirit' after win over Chelsea

Federico Chiesa has hailed the 'spirit' Juventus showed in their impressive win over European champions Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday evening.

The Italian international scored the winner on the night, rifling the ball past Edouard Mendy in the Blues goal just 11 seconds into the second half.

After going ahead La Vecchia Signora were able to dig in and hold on to the 1-0 lead and, perhaps more importantly, a first clean sheet in over 20 games.

Speaking after the game (to Amazon Prime Italia), Chiesa hailed Juve's ability to cling on to their slender lead, and also took time to praise Max Allegri's tactical plan for the game: “It was a hard-fought performance, because Chelsea pinned us back and did really well in possession, but this evening we showed what the Juve spirit is all about, the spirit that the coach asks for.

“We started out with a system, then the coach changed so we could attack the space, where Chelsea were struggling this evening, and we did well to punish them.”

As well as praising Allegri, Chiesa also took the time to dispel rumours of a rift between he and the coach, stating that these rumours are fabricated by the media: “I’ve never had a problem with the coach, this was just created by the media. I do whatever he asks, there’s no issue here.

"I know you lot like it when Juve start the season badly, so you can start with pointless gossip, but we are all behind the coach and want to bring Juve back to the years of dominating the Scudetto race.”

La Vecchia Signora will be hoping to bring their midweek form into this weekend's crucial Derby della Mole clash with Torino. Juve have endured a rather disappointing start to their Serie A campaign - trailing league leaders Napoli by 10 points already - but after three wins on the bounce in all competitions, they will be confident of beating their inner-city rivals at Stadio Olimpico.