'Personality And Concentration' Please Lippi
Sunday 9th September 2001
Juventus manager Marcello Lippi was full of praise for his players after they recorded a 2-0 victory over Atalanta on Sunday to put them top of Serie A.
Following the win, that was secured with goals from Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, Lippi said: "We played a very good match today, facing a strong and stubborn opponent.
"We showed some good qualities, especially two virtues I consider to be decisive. They are personality and concentration. We played a good first half but what's more important is that we ended the match playing better and better."
Chile international Marcelo Salas replaced Del Piero in the second half and linked up well with Trezeguet, setting up the Frenchman's goal.
Lippi added: "I try to utilise all my players, because it's important they understand that in such a long and difficult season all of them will have many chances to find glory."
The victory means Juventus have opened up a four-point gap between themselves and title-contenders Lazio and Roma but it is a statistic Lippi claims is irrelevant.
"I don't look at the gap, not so early anyway," he said. "A four-point gap means nothing at the beginning of a long and hard season."
