Juventus beat Verona to stay in top four

TURIN:

Juventus moved back into Serie A's Champions League places on Monday by beating Verona 2-0 to dampen rumbling fan discontent.

Khephren Thuram's fine first-time finish in the 72nd minute and a late strike from Teun Koopmeiners saw off struggling Verona.

Juventus climbed two points above Lazio who briefly moved into the top four by winning at AC Milan on Sunday night, and next week host third-placed Atalanta with only three points separating the two teams.

France midfielder Thuram opened the scoring just as fans at the Allianz Stadium in Turin were turning on the Juve players, loudly booed off at half-time by supporters already outraged at the midweek exit from the Italian Cup at the hands of lowly Empoli.

"We played well and we deserved to win... it was an important three points," said under-fire Juve coach Thiago Motta.

"I'm pleased with the players I have, with the effort and commitment they show... We know that the attitude was wrong last time (against Empoli)."

The match was played in a flat atmosphere as fans protested their team's underwhelming season after bringing in Motta to replace Massimiliano Allegri and spending significant sums to renew the squad and mount both a challenge for the Scudetto and a deep run in the Champions League.

Instead, Juve were dumped out of Europe's top club competition in the play-offs by PSV Eindhoven and trail league-leaders Inter by six points.

Demanding supporters staged a protest outside the team hotel on Sunday night and launched foul-mouthed chants at Motta ahead of Monday's win, Juve's fifth in a row in Serie A.

On Monday, Juve would have been behind to a rocket of a shot from Toma Suslov at the break had Davide Faraoni not strayed offside in the build-up.

That ruling set the stage for Juve to win a match which they dominated from the first whistle and could have won more comprehensively had it not been for Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo.

Koopmeiners, who has underperformed since arriving from Atalanta as a potential star of a reworked team, netted just his third goal of the season give the match a more respectable scoreline.

Left it late

"The way we got to the three points was important and it wasn't easy," Motta told DAZN.

"Being calm means waiting and playing football. It's not easy because after the elimination (from Coppa Italia) the atmosphere was particular and you could have an extra desire and anxiety to do things (right).

"When it's like that you leave counter-attacks, and instead we didn't give our opponents that opportunity. In the second half we could have scored even more than the two goals. The boys deserved it and have a lot of quality."

Juve suffered a shock Italian Cup exit last week when they were beaten 4-2 on penalties by Empoli in the competition's quarter-finals after the regular time ended in a 1-1 draw.

"In the last (cup) match we got our attitude wrong in the first half but we are always very demanding with ourselves, we want to do better and that's the secret," Motta said.

"We have to look for something to improve every day. Today we had a great performance but that's part of the past."

The Italian-Brazilian coach had words of courage for goalscorer Koopmeiners, who found the back of the net for the first time since the beginning of December.

"Koopmeiners did well and I'm very happy for him, he's a special guy," Motta added.

"He has a great mentality, it's a privilege for us to have him. He has to be convinced, confident and accept criticism. He's doing well and he'll give us a lot."

The 27-year-old Dutch international, who joined Juve from Atalanta for a reported fee of around 55 million euros ($57.68 million) in August, scored his second Serie A goal for the Turin side.

Fourth-placed Juventus host Atalanta, in third, on Sunday, with three points separating the sides.