Juventus responded as I had hoped, says Conte

9 Jan 2013 23:35:00

The 43-year-old was impressed by the hunger of his players as they battled back from a goal down to win the tie, and reserved special praise for stand-in keeper Marco Storari

Antonio Conte praised the "great response" from his side after Juventus fought back to beat AC Milan 2-1 in the Coppa Italia quarter-final.

Mirko Vucinic struck the winner in extra time after Sebastian Giovinco had levelled the match following Stephan El Shaarawy's early opener, and Conte was delighted that his charges were able to learn from their mistakes in their recent defeat to Sampdoria.

“It is always a tough game between these two great teams and clubs who have won so much,” he told RAI after the match.

“Our hunger was huge and I received a great response from everyone, especially as I included many players who hadn’t featured for a while.

“I told them that what happened against Sampdoria must never happen again."

The 43-year-old reserved special praise for Marco Storari, who made a handful of impressive saves on the night as he deputised for Gianluigi Buffon.

“I compliment Marco Storari, as he played a great game in goal and I am very proud of him," he praised.

Man of the moment, Vucinic, was understandably elated after firing his team into the next round and hailed the efforts of the whole squad on the back of a disappointing weekend.

"All of us, all 13 or 14 players fought to win the game," the striker added.

"We didn't play as well as we could against Sampdoria, but we are fully focused on achieving all of our objectives."

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