Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic has said the season will still be a success if they defend their Serie A title but stressed that he did not believe their Champions League hopes were finished.
A 3-0 home defeat to Real Madrid in the quarterfinal first leg has left Juve on the brink of elimination, but they lead Napoli by four points at the top of Serie A with eight games to go as they chase a seventh successive Scudetto.
“We’re disappointed, but we’ve got to move on,” Pjanic told Sky Sport Italia when asked about the defeat to Madrid.
“We only think about winning and getting closer to our seventh straight Scudetto, which would be incredible.
“Winning the league and the Coppa Italia would be in line with the quality that we have — all the while remembering that our objective is the Champions League, now and in the future.”
Juve travel to the Bernabeu on Wednesday and Pjanic insisted that they could produce a dramatic comeback.
“We’re not giving up because anything can happen in football – anything,” he said.
“The early goal hurt us and we needed to avoid that, but we did well to stay in the game and it was even thanks to their goalkeeper that the ball wouldn’t go in.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t want to go in, but I think we deserved at least one. Then Cristiano Ronaldo scored two extraordinary goals.
“It was Ronaldo’s day and not ours. Everything he tried came off. We could have done better, but we showed that we can play against such opponents.
“I think it could have ended differently if we had got a few of the breaks. That could have changed everything.”
After Saturday’s Serie A trip to bottom-placed Benevento, Juventus host Sampdoria and travel to Crotone before meeting Napoli at the Allianz Stadium on April 22.
They could make it four straight league and cup doubles when they face AC Milan in the Coppa Italia final on May 9.
Ben Gladwell reports on Serie A, the Italian national team and the Bundesliga for ESPN FC, UEFA and the Press Association. @UEFAcomBenG.
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