Juventus Urged To Live Within The Pressure After Lazio Draw And Comeback

Juventus escaped with a 2-2 draw against Lazio after a late comeback, and Luciano Spalletti urged the team to embrace that pressure. Juve trailed 2-0 early in the second half, yet still rescued a point with goals from Weston McKennie and a 96th-minute strike from Pierre Kalulu.

Lazio had seized control through Pedro and Gustav Isaksen, scoring on either side of half-time. The response from Juventus impressed Spalletti, who focused on the mental strength shown after such a poor restart. The head coach highlighted how those situations reveal whether a group truly belongs at the top level.

Spalletti explained that the match scenario matched exactly the kind of test he wants for Juventus. "We have to live within pressure, that is the joy of football,

when you have to overturn a 2-0 result at the start of the second half, when it wasn't what we had planned at all," Spalletti told DAZN Italia.

He continued by stressing how judgment comes in difficult spells, not when games run smoothly. "That is when you test yourself and see if you can handle the tension at the top level; that is what we must relish, seeing if we deserve to be at this level or not. Character means when everything is going wrong, and you need a clear head to make choices. That's what makes the difference. This team overturned a very difficult situation, put in a great performance, so we go forward feeling reassured. "

The numbers underlined Juventus’ dominance despite the draw. Juve produced 34 shots and an expected goals figure of 2.8, with eight attempts on target. Lazio finished with nine shots, totalling 1.2 xG, and converted both efforts that hit the target, making Juventus’ late equaliser vital in avoiding defeat.

However, the match also extended an unwanted Serie A trend for Juventus. Spalletti’s side have now committed nine errors leading directly to goals in the league this season, the joint-highest tally in the competition. Manuel Locatelli lost possession before Lazio’s opener, yet Spalletti placed much of the responsibility on tactical instructions.

Spalletti said the coaching staff’s demands carried a risk but were intentional. "It is probably the fault of the demands we put upon these players," he said. "In this period, I asked them to immediately play every ball that they win back, not to kick it away, so we must try to play our way out under pressure, and add more quality to our football.

"When you make that many requests, it means anticipating dangerous situations, seeing both the positive and negative potential of any scenario at the same time. Mistakes can happen. Locatelli has been one of our best players this season, so losing the ball once doesn't ruin anything. Even after that, there was the way we defended, how we closed down the shot, the bad luck of the deflection. That's football. What we must build on is the reaction of the team, the performance overall. We need to speed things up, but not be chaotic. Speeding up the tempo does not mean spilling over into chaos. "

The draw leaves Juventus fourth in Serie A, still 12 points behind leaders Inter. The two sides meet on Saturday, adding extra weight to Spalletti’s push for sharper play under pressure and fewer costly errors as Juventus chase a stronger position in the title race.