Runjaic: ‘Juventus have world class players and Udinese cannot compete now’

Kosta Runjaic admits Udinese ‘were not able to compete on the same level’ with a practically full-strength Juventus. ‘They have world class players like Kenan Yildiz and Jeremie Boga.’

The Friulani suffered a 1-0 home defeat this evening, as Boga turned in the assist from Kenan Yildiz to beat Maduka Okoye, the goalkeeper having made several big saves.

Francisco Conceicao had also managed to find the net, but it was disallowed because Teun Koopmeiners was considered to be interfering with play in an offside position.

Runjaic acknowledges Udinese limits

“Juventus played better, that is clear, we expected to have less possession, but were missing a little bit of quality at times. We also had chances, soccer is not just about playing better, but taking the chances,” Runjaic told Sky Sport Italia.

“Ekkelenkamp had a good situation, Zaniolo was in a good position when there Atta should’ve had a cut-back ball, and other choices were made.

“Juventus are a strong team, they have world class wide players like Yildiz and Conceicao, so right now we are not able to compete on the same level.”

Udinese are now in mid-table, so for the remaining nine games of the season, will he motivate them aiming for Europe or just to improve on last season’s tally?

“I don’t need to push the team,” shrugged Runjaic.

Udinese seemed to struggle with long balls down the left in particular, where players like Yildiz and Boga managed to control and attack the near post.

“Juventus are a very versatile team, they are able to play short combinations, but also dangerous with deep balls from Locatelli, and one of those we didn’t defend well enough, so they scored the goal. It is not easy to protect a fantastic deep ball like that, they have players who are running deep and can receive with one touch.

“It’s not easy to find the balance, we did better in the second half, but that is just one of many elements.”

Yildiz moved over to his preferred left side, that added to the sense that Udinese’s defence was struggling, but Runjaic points out his choices were also limited.

“It’s nothing new, Yildiz played many times as a winger, so it was just a matter of time. We were completely aware about this, but were also missing players like Zanoli, Bertola and Solet. It is not an excuse, but we were unable to perform with a full squad.

“On the other hand, Juve put all their quality out without any big injuries at the moment, so if it wasn’t Yildiz, then Conceicao would do something. We don’t need to look for micro-details, it’s not about this.”