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Pirlo upset with Juve loss: “No shots on goal, lost due to dubious incident”

SSC Napoli v Juventus - Serie A
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Andrea Pirlo was visibly annoyed with Juventus’ performance against Napoli and the penalty that decided the match’s result.

A former player such as Andrea Pirlo definitely isn’t accustomed to losing games. As a manager, Pirlo is no different and gets visibly upset when his team failed to take home the three points.

Juventus faced Napoli this Saturday afternoon and drew further from the title race after losing 1-0 to Gattuso’s men. However, what truly set Pirlo off was the way in which Napoli managed to score the winning goal.

The referee awarded Gli Azzurri a penalty after Chiellini hit Rrahmani in the face on an aerial challenge. However, both Pirlo and the rest of the Bianconeri believed the contact was accidental and shouldn’t have been flagged.

“If you give a penalty for that, then any contact will be punishable by a spot-kick,” said the manager. “If that had been given for us, there would’ve been a lot of controversy and complaints, assuming it’d be given to us at all.

“I am just saying the incidents went that way today. It was a dubious penalty, a doubt over the double yellow card for Giovanni Di Lorenzo. Some incidents are treated differently when against Juventus, because everyone talks about us. Sometimes that tactic works, sometimes it doesn’t. Nevermind.”

Juventus’ poor performance didn’t help Pirlo’s case.

Regardless of the referee’s decisions, the Bianconeri didn’t do enough to secure the win. In fact, Juve’s performance wasn’t all that convincing, although Pirlo believes otherwise.

“We never had a shot on goal, we lost due to a dubious incident, but it’s a pity we didn’t get the win. We put in the performance that we needed to, but not the result that we deserved.

“[Juve] moved the ball around, but not quickly enough, so Napoli were able to get into position. In the second half, we were more enterprising, created more chances, but didn’t get the goal.”

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