Conte hails Tevez, Llorente

Juventus coach Antonio Conte praised his strike duo after his side’s hard-fought 2-0 win at Milan on Sunday.

A below-par Juve moved 11 points clear atop the Serie A after goals from Fernando Llorente and Carlos Tevez saw them to the win at the San Siro.

Conte was full of praise for an ‘excellent’ Milan side, but said his front pair stepped up when their side needed them to.

“We didn’t have many problems at all in the second half and even doubled our lead through Carlitos (Tevez),” he said.

“He’s the sort of player who the hotter the atmosphere, the more he thrives. He’s at his best with his back against the wall.

“But he’s not the only one. I’m thinking of Llorente, who had a wonderful match, worrying the opposition rearguard.”

Llorente completed a wonderful team move a minute before half-time as he tapped in a Stephan Lichtsteiner cutback.

Tevez doubled the visitors’ advantage in the 68th minute with a cracking 30-yard drive which went in off the crossbar.

Conte was pleasantly surprised by Llorente’s opener after aiming to get to the break on level terms.

“Things didn’t go as we would have liked in the first half. We were too wide at the back and we had issues with our wing backs and in the final third,” he said.

“My aim was to get in at half-time with the score at 0-0, before making the changes we needed.”

Clarence Seedorf’s Milan side are 10th after the loss, but Conte was impressed by how well the hosts played.

“They (Milan) were very bright, full of running and set a high tempo in the first half,” Conte said.

“We did well to make the most of a nice move through Llorente then we tweaked our tactics at the break and doubled our lead in the second period. Hats off to Seedorf and his team.

“Let’s not forget we drew here in my first season and lost here last year, so I was worried about losing ground on our title rivals today.”