Lichtsteiner denies Juve crisis

Juventus right back Stephan Lichtsteiner says the club is not in crisis despite their relatively poor performances since Serie A’s resumption.

The Serie A champions were beaten 2-1 by Sampdoria a fortnight ago and had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Parma last week, but the Switzerland international has little doubt that they will soon return to winning ways.

“We were hurt by the home defeat to Sampdoria and we allowed Parma a way back into the game on Sunday. But there’s absolutely no need to talk about a crisis,” Lichtsteiner told Sky Sport Italia.

“We’ve dropped five points out of six, but we also did the same at this point last year.”

The right-back discussed Saturday’s home match against Udinese, and is expecting a close encounter.

“Udinese are a great team and we need to pay close attention to the pace they possess in their ranks. All our opponents put in a top performance when they play against us and we’re aware of that,” he said.

“But we’ve got to try and win everything. Clearly it will be tough, but we have quality and Juve’s mentality must always consist of taking to the field with the aim of winning every game and competition we face.”