Juventus´ heart and sacrifice told in the end – Pirlo hails fighting spirit in late comeback win

Andrea Pirlo insists Juventus’ never-say-die spirit was to thank for their late 2-1 comeback win over Torino in Saturday’s Derby della Mole clash.

Juve trailed to Nicolas Nkoulou’s ninth-minute strike at the Allianz Stadium and would have been two down had Simone Zaza beat Wojciech Szczesny from a one-on-one.

But the hosts rallied late on and scored two headed goals from Juan Cuadrado crosses – Leonardo Bonucci netting an 89th-minute winner after Weston McKennie had equalised 12 minutes earlier.

It marked the first time Juve have won a league game in which they have trailed in since November 2019 and Pirlo praised the attitude shown by his players to dig deep and pick up a vital derby victory.

“When you lose every challenge, it becomes difficult to control the game,” he told Sky Sport Italia.

“We were too static and never filled the box when we did manage to find some width to put a cross in. It’s difficult against a five-man defence.