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We deserve our place in the semis

Friday April 11 2014

After masterminding tonight’s 2-1 victory over Lyon, Antonio Conte spoke of his pride at prolonging the Bianconeri’s European adventure.

The manager, who won the UEFA Cup and Champions League during his playing days in the black and white stripes, is under no illusions regarding how much a semi-final place means to all connected with the club, and believes his side were deserved winners over two legs against Lyon.

Addressing the media at Juventus Stadium, the 44-year-old said: “We’ve led Juve back into a European semi-final for the first time in over 10 years and this fills us with pride. Today we started very well and perhaps thought that everything was too simple, letting our guard down and finding ourselves ill prepared for their goal.

“When you go 1-1 it’s always difficult to work out the potential psychological repercussions, but we steadied the ship, scored again and missed out on a third goal. I think at the end of the day we deserved to go through.”

Playing a key part in tonight’s success was the input of the fans, who Conte says must continue to get behind Italy’s only remaining representative in European club competitions.

He concluded: “We must think about our fans and I hope they always remember where we’ve come from and what we’ve managed to achieve so far. I always expect to hear plenty of applause at the stadium. Having said that, in Italy you’re either for or against Juventus and I don’t think many are interested in the ranking, actually there are plenty who hope we get knocked out.”

Source: Juventus.COM

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