Conte: Juve overshadowed by ´extraordinary´ Roma

Antonio Conte feels the achievements of his Juventus side have been overshadowed by Roma’s “extraordinary” exploits this season.

Juve beat Napoli 3-0 on Sunday to move a point behind Serie A leaders Roma, who were surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw by lowly Sassuolo.

The defending champions have suffered only one defeat this season – a 4-2 loss at Fiorentina – and Conte believes Roma’s unbeaten start to the campaign, which featured 10 successive wins, is the main reason why the Turin club have not received more acclaim.

“Out of 12 matches, Juventus have won 10 matches, drawn one and lost one,” Conte said.

“This proves that we’re doing something extraordinary, which has been overshadowed by the extraordinary run of Roma.

“I remember last year when we fought hard to win some matches and you were saying that Juventus was winning but wasn’t performing as well as before. I have heard exactly the same things this year.

“The only difference compared to the past two years – which isn’t a difference, actually – is that Juventus are usually at the top of the table.

“This is the third consecutive year that has happened. It’s all thanks to our extraordinary players who are doing extraordinary things.

“Juventus won both the Scudetto (Serie A title) and the Supercoppa (Italian Super Cup) in the last two years, but I can only say that especially for those reasons it’s harder to win this year.

“It’s difficult to win for the third time. In addition to this, there are strong competitors in the championship this year, such as Napoli, and therefore we have to do an even better job if we want to achieve something more than extraordinary, but this isn’t going to be easy.”