Ranieri: "Congratulations To Those Who Had Played Less"

On the eve of the away trip to Sardinia, Claudio Ranieri had bet that those lads who, for whatever reason, had had less chances to show their worth so far, would come out with a good performance. And he's won that bet.

At the Sant’Elia, with players of the calibre of Del Piero, Trezeguet, Camoranesi, Zanetti and Zebina staying back at home, and also without Legrottaglie, Poulsen and Grygera, all rested today, and even without Buffon for one half of the match, Juventus still played an excellent game and earned three precious points to take back to Turin.

After the match, he especially congratulated those lads and the strength of the group as a whole. "They did really well and they're all doing good work together".

"Today we suffered a little near the end because we didn't convert all the chances we created. It wasn't easy playing on this pitch, that's why we were forced to play long balls to cut out the midfield and Amauri was excellent in keeping control of the ball and allowing team mates to come up".

"Buffon? We'll see tomorrow with the medical staff. We didn't want to risk it and that's why we replaced him after the first half. Let's hope it's nothing serious".

Juventus.com