Torino vs Juventus - Leonardo Bonucci switches focus to Turin derby

Posted Saturday, March 19, 2016 by PA

Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci is confident his side can quickly recover from the heartache of their European exit as focus switches to Sunday's Turin derby and the quest for a fifth consecutive Serie A title.

Juve were on course for a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League when they led 2-0 at Bayern Munich in midweek to open up a 4-2 advantage on aggregate in the Allianz Arena.

However, Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller struck after the break to send the match into extra time, where Thiago Alcantara and Kingsley Coman earned the German side a 6-4 aggregate success.

Speaking to Sky Italia ahead of the derby clash with Torino, Bonucci said: "Matches like that are always likely to swing on one single moment and that's what happened in Munich. In football, these things happen and you have to move on.

"It's important now that we keep focused on the improvements we've made recently on all fronts. The Juve of last season was one founded on experience but this one is built on genuine quality and we are only likely to grow further."

After a stuttering start to their Serie A title defence, Juventus have now won 18 of their last 19 games in the league and are through to the Coppa Italia final against Milan in May.

"We've trained since the start of the season to be able to handle playing once every three days and that means having the necessary mental and physical reserves to bounce back after disappointments like Wednesday night's," Bonucci added.

"Our objective now is to first win the Scudetto and then head to Rome with another domestic double still on the cards."

Veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon can create history on Sunday after a 10th successive Serie A clean sheet against Sassuolo last week moved the 38-year-old to within four minutes of breaking Sebastiano Rossi's all-time record of 929 minutes without conceding a goal.

Torino have taken just two points from their last four matches to lie 13th in the table and squandered a two-goal lead at Genoa in a 3-2 defeat last week.

"Tomorrow only the result matters," Torino manager Giampiero Ventura told a pre-match press conference. "We have to try to win it to the end. There is a great desire to play this match."