Juve still in title race, says Marchisio

Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio is remaining positive despite his side dropping more points at Bologna on Wednesday.

The Bianconeri drew 1-1 at the Stadio Dall’Ara, a result which allowed Milan to remain at the top of the table on their own.

“We are two points away from Milan and we gained a point on [third-placed] Lazio,” the Italian international commented.

“The team is in good shape, we’re still unbeaten, we’re running hard and we didn’t lose our shape even after we went down to 10 men.”

Juve started the game well, only to then concede when Marco Di Vaio was played onside by Stephan Lichtsteiner.

“It was like being slapped,” Marchisio noted. “But we mustn’t make excuses and it shouldn’t take a goal against us to wake us up.

“Bologna are in very good shape and played a great game.”

Juve went into the tie without the injured Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini. Both centre-backs will be joined on the sidelines by Leonardo Bonucci at the weekend after his dismissal in the game.

“We can’t think about the absences,” the 26-year-old noted. “The squad is competitive and that’s already been seen.

“We’ve got confidence in ourselves and in the group, this was also made evident this evening.”

One positive to come from the game was the return of Mirko Vucinic to the scoresheet.

“He has great class,” Marchisio argued. “This evening he put in a great performance and scored a precious goal.

“We hope he’ll go on and score even more.”

fino alla fine... please don't give up.