Conte hopeful Juve can respond to Champions League exit

Juventus coach Antonio Conte has urged his side to respond following their exit from the UEFA Champions League.

The Turin club were knocked out of Europe’s premier club competition courtesy of a 1-0 defeat at Galatasaray, in a game played over two days after the contest was initially abandoned after 31 minutes due to freak snow storms in Istanbul.

Juventus won just one of their six matches in Group B, but Conte was quick to reject suggestions that their campaign had been a failure.

“Failure in what? That we didn’t win the Champions League? If our target for the season was to win the Champions League then it’s a failure,” Conte said.

“But the truth is we could’ve had a longer journey in the tournament.

“I don’t recall us ever saying our objective was the Treble, putting the Champions League first, then the Scudetto and Coppa Italia. If you think that from one day to the next you can create dominant teams, then just remember we already performed a miracle in being protagonists again.

“Last season we went out in the quarter-finals against eventual winners Bayern Munich. We didn’t start strong this year and that damaged our chances, but it takes time.”

The 44-year-old is hopeful the Serie A leaders can bounce back, starting against strugglers Sassuolo on Sunday.

“It (the Galatasaray defeat) is not the first time we have fallen on the field of play. In fact, this season we fell twice in a row against Fiorentina and Real Madrid,” he added.

“In two and a half years we have fallen few times, but we must do well to again get back on our feet.

“It’s important to talk about the present, not the past, and Sassuolo have already earned draws away to two of our closest challengers, Roma and Napoli. We’ve got to be very careful they don’t make it a hat-trick.”