Carrera hails never-say-die Juve

Published Sep. 23, 2012 9:16 a.m. ET

foxsports

Juventus interim coach Massimo Carrera hailed the attitude of his players after overseeing a hard-earned 2-0 victory over Chievo on Saturday.

The defending Serie A champions dominated the match from start to finish, with visiting goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino performing miracles to keep Juve at bay for over an hour.

But Fabio Quagliarella finally made the breakthrough Carrera's men deserved with an acrobatic finish before beating Sorrentino a second time to wrap up the Turin giants' fourth league win of the season.

It was another dogged display from Juventus, who pegged Chelsea back to claim a 2-2 draw in their Champions League group stage opener at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Carrera told juventus.com: "It wasn't easy because Chievo played a very closed game, but we played with a patient approach and got the win we deserved.

"We didn't stop playing even after we'd got two goals, but that's our mentality, we're always looking to score more goals and that's how we will continue to get better.

"Quagliarella? He's in great shape and proved it, I'm happy for him and for the new players like (Paul) Pogba, Lucio and (Mauricio) Isla who also did well today."

Chievo never truly threatened to get on the scoresheet but head coach Domenico Di Carlo is starting to see signs of improvement from his side, who have now lost three games this term.

Quoted in the Gazzetta dello Sport, Di Carlo told Sky: "Juve were stronger across the whole 90 minutes even if we did manage to contain them in the first half and disrupt their rhythm.

"Credit to Juve, but we have to do better, I told them that much during the break.

"I saw a much more compact Chievo than the one that lost to Lazio, where we conceded three goals on the counter-attack, even if we need to do better up front.

"I'm happy for Stefano, before tonight there had been eight shots on target against us and five goals, so tonight he performed very well.

"This squad has always reacted well to setbacks and I expect another intense game on Wednesday (against Inter Milan)."