‘Juventus are physically and mentally tired’ – Sarri believes fatigue is wearing on Serie A sides

Maurizio Sarri believes Juventus are “physically and mentally tired” after falling to a surprise loss to Udinese on Thursday.

Juventus had a chance to clinch the Scudetto on Thursday, with Sarri’s side knowing that a win would see them officially claim their ninth consecutive domestic triumph.

After Matthijs de Ligt put Juve on track to seal the Serie A title just before halftime, relegation-threatened Udinese fought back with two goals in the second half to seal the win.

Ilija Nestorovski equalised just seven minutes into the second half before Seko Fofana scored a dramatic 92nd-minute winner, leaving Juve six points clear with three games remaining.

Atalanta currently maintain that second-place spot on 74 points with Inter and Lazio lurking just behind on 73 and 72 points, respectively.

Despite having the inside track on the Serie A title, Sarri  lamented his side’s fatigue amid a busy run of fixtures, after their sixth game already this month.

“In this period, we are physically and mentally tired, and it is a problem common to all,” the Juventus head coach said following the defeat.

“For this reason, being aggressive is something more tiring and, therefore, now what matters most is order, because the inertia of a game changes very easily.

“It is difficult to keep it throughout the match and sometimes, like today, we lose it.”

Juve will instead get a chance to secure a ninth straight Serie A title when they host Sampdoria on Sunday with just three games remaining in the Italian season.

Sarri said his focus was entirely on that clash, not next month’s Champions League meeting with Lyon.

“At the moment I am not thinking about the Champions League, in my mind there is only Sampdoria and Sunday’s match,” he said.

“We have to be on the ball and then we’ll think about the cup.”

After taking on Sampdoria, Sarri and Juventus will visit Cagliari three days later before closing the season with a match against Roma at home.

Once they’re through those matches, Juve will play host to Lyon, who will visit Italy nursing a 1-0 lead from the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 encounter.