Giorgio Chiellini noted that Tottenham Hotspur ‘miss always something at the end’ as his Juventus side emerged triumphant in a dramatic Champions League last-16 tie.
Spurs held the edge coming into the second leg at Wembley after drawing 2-2 in Turin three weeks ago, but lost 2-1 on the night to the Italians.
And Chiellini, who was immense at the back in the latter stages, believed that big-game experience was a key factor in the Serie A outfit making it through to the quarter-finals.
“For us it is an amazing night,” the centre-half told BT Sport.
“It was very difficult and we knew before this match and also before the first game.
“But we believed it and believed in the win.
“Tottenham have always created many chances to score, but they miss always something at the end,” he added.
“We believe in the history – we saw it yesterday between Paris [Saint-Germain] and Real [Madrid].
“The history is important, with experience it is important and we used our skill.”
Although at first glance Chiellini’s comments seem to be a jibe at the Lilywhites, the defender is right in his assertion that there is no substitute for experience in these sorts of matches.
Spurs were excellent for an hour on Wednesday but scoring just once, through Son Heung-min, whilst continuing to bomb forward always left them vulnerable and so it proved.
Gonzalo Higuain and Paulo Dybala struck within three minutes of each other to seal the Old Lady’s progress to the next round.
Chiellini labelled Tottenham a ‘fantastic team’ and it is clear that he sees the North Londoners as on a par with Juventus in terms of technical ability and skill, but simply lacking the know-how to close out these kinds of situations.
In that sense, this defeat should benefit Mauricio Pochettino’s men in the long run and they will be better prepared to come through similar encounters in campaigns to come.