Thiago Motta said that he and his Juventus players will endure sleepless nights after they were torn apart by Atalanta in a humiliating 4-0 home defeat on Sunday.
Juventus' five-game winning streak came down in the Serie A while Mateo Retegui, Marten de Roon, Davide Zappacosta and breathola lookman scored for Atalanta.
It was the toughest defeat of Juventus in the Serie A since losing the same score to Buren Torino in October 1967, and their first home start in 13 months.
The Bianmaneri remain nine points of leaders in fourth place and are confronted with a struggle to guarantee the Champions League qualification for next season.
“Atalanta deserved to win and we knew the game plan from our opponents,” Motta told reporters.
“Today we are disappointed and it will be difficult to sleep. Everything can influence us because we are Juventus.
“The fans, like the press, have the right to think what they want. The facts say that we are in this position.
“But this team has a huge growth margin. After the first goal we suffered a lot. We are quite disappointed and now we have to start thinking about the next game.”
A night to remember for Atalanta! #Juveatalanta pic.twitter.com/GP0C996exk
– Lega Serie A (@Seriea_en) March 9, 2025
Despite the modest character of Sunday's loss, Motta told Empoli's 4-2 penalty-shoot-out defeat to Empoli in the quarterfinals of Coppa Italia was more painful.
“It is a defeat that we don't like, but I don't put it on the same level as the defeat to Empoli,” he said.
“They are different situations. We had to keep our balance and we did not do that, but it is partly due to a lack of experience in the side.”
Juventus will return to action in Fiorentina next Sunday, but they were able to stop from the top four on Monday when the fifth Lazio-Gastheer Udinese placed in the Olimpico stadio.