Conte fumes at Immobile challenge

Paul Pogba nodded home a controversial winner in Sunday's derby with Carlos Tevez in an offside position, but the Juventus coach believes the Argentine was lucky not to be injured

Antonio Conte was furious that Ciro Immobile escaped a red card for a challenge on Carlos Tevez during Juventus' 1-0 win over Torino in the Derby della Mole on Sunday.

Paul Pogba nodded in a controversial winner in the second half, with the Frenchman reacting first to a rebound after Tevez had headed against the crossbar when in a clear offside position.

 

However, rather than consider his side fortunate to be awarded the goal, Conte believes the Argentine was fortunate to be on the pitch following Immobile's lunge earlier in the game.

"I was told Tevez was offside for the goal, but he also risked his ankle on Immobile’s challenge before that," the Bianconeri boss told Sky Sport Italia.

"He suffered a serious cut to his ankle and who knows how it might’ve ended if Toro had gone down to 10 men. Immobile should’ve been sent off.

"Mistakes can happen for referees and it is inevitable that debatable incidents will occur, but the team played well and took the initiative throughout."

Conte felt his side were worthy winners of a tense encounter at Stadio Olimpico after Torino set their stall out to contain the Italian champions.

"There was only one team that looked for the victory and that was Juventus," he continued. "Torino sat back and waited, even after going a goal down. It’s a difficult League and our opponents change their whole approach to limit us rather than play their own football.

"We were much more attentive and didn’t allow Torino anything, despite their excellent players they had on the counter-attack. Compared to previous games, we brought back the three-man defence that performed so well last season.

"Torino are tactically well organised and use a very defensive system, but in the second half as they got tired the spaces started to open up a bit."

Andrea Pirlo was rested for the clash ahead of Juventus' Champions League meeting with Galatasaray, but Conte insists his side have enough strength in depth to cope with continual rotation in a busy period of fixtures.

"Pirlo is unique and inimitable, so without him we lose some quality and gain in physicality. I had to rotate the squad with so many games coming up, but I have faith in them," he added.