Juventus striker Matri relieved to end goal drought

Oct 1, 2012 12:55:00 AM

The Old Lady frontman has admitted he was happy to bag his first league strike of the season in a 4-1 victory over Roma to help extend his club's remarkable unbeaten run

Juventus striker Alessandro Matri has admitted he was delighted to find himself of the scoresheet against Roma on Saturday.

The 28-year-old, who joined the club from Cagliari in 2011, scored the third goal of the game as The Old Lady swept away the opposition with a devastating 4-1 win.

Yet despite finding the back of the net, Matri insisted that nobody was guaranteed a place in the starting line-up, with competition for first team places extremely fierce at the Juventus Stadium.

“I’m happy because it’s been a while since I was on the scoresheet. When I gathered Vidal’s pass I realised it represented a good opportunity" he told Sky Sports Italia.

“Playing every three days, the opportunities will come for everyone. The competition spurs us on, the important thing is to try and keep yourself ready and make the most of the chances that will arise.

"Are the strikers more prolific this year? Now the system is established, we know each other better, we know what to do and so everything is a lot simpler.”

The win served to further extend Juve's unbeaten record, which now stands at an outstanding 45 games. But Matri was quick to play down the suggestion that the Scudetto would be heading back to Turin at the end of the season.

“This year we’ve started out as favourites after winning the Scudetto last time out," he added.

"But there are other strong teams, we’ve only played six fixtures and there’s a long way to go in the championship.”

Inside Goal.Com

Like Owomoyela, like Sam
The German-Nigerian has been put in the dicey position of having to decide his international future after J Loew called him up last week
And Goal.com's World Player of the Week is ...
Check out which star man gets the nod from our panel of experts this week ...
Goal's Serie A awards for 2012-13
Goal crowns the best and worst from Italy over the course of the season
Bundesliga Team of the Week: Ribery stars again
Goal picks out the star performers from across Germany from a dramatic final matchday of action
Who is the greatest Champions League striker ever?
Enter our competition now and you will be in with a chance of winning one of four replica football shirts. Simply pick your favourite and subscribe to our YouTube channel