Andrea Pirlo felt Juventus did not have enough leaders who could "understand the moment" as they threw away two points at Hellas Verona in Serie A action on Saturday. (More Football News)
Juventus let a hard-earned lead slip at Hellas Verona, leaving Andrea Pirlo frustrated his message had not got across to a youthful outfit.
Andrea Pirlo felt Juventus did not have enough leaders who could "understand the moment" as they threw away two points at Hellas Verona in Serie A action on Saturday. (More Football News)
Defending Serie A champions Juve were heading for a second victory of the week after Cristiano Ronaldo netted early for the visitors in the second half.
But Antonin Barak's header 13 minutes from time rescued a point for Verona, who might then have snatched victory during the closing stages as Wojciech Szczesny saved smartly from influential substitute Darko Lazovic.
Juve head coach Pirlo was disappointed with the way the Bianconeri slipped up from a position of strength, having been made to work hard for their lead against a side they have failed to beat in three attempts.
"We're sorry because we knew it was going to be a difficult, dirty game," Pirlo told DAZN.
"We had interpreted it well. We were also able to take the lead, which was the hardest thing, but then we couldn't keep the result.
"We lacked a bit of aggression, especially for the goal. It was necessary to prevent [Lazovic] from crossing easily.
"These are issues that, unfortunately, the young players still do not understand, because these make the difference and make you take home points."
When Aaron Ramsey was substituted 22 minutes from time, six of the remaining Juve players were aged 23 or younger. Alessandro Di Pardo, introduced in place of Federico Chiesa late on, was a seventh.
Meanwhile, only Alex Sandro (147), Rodrigo Bentancur (102), Federico Bernardeschi (98), goalkeeper Szczesny (92) and Ronaldo (84) had made more than 50 league appearances for Juve.
Amid the lack of experience, Pirlo turned to Alex Sandro and Ronaldo to lift their colleagues, failing to do so as the defender was outjumped for Barak's leveller while the scorer of the opener ended the game having hit the target with only two of his seven attempts.
"When you have the advantage in these games, you have to try to bring it home," Pirlo added.
"But there was a lack of experienced players, many young players, therefore few who made themselves heard and understood the moment of the game.
"In fact, I asked Cristiano and Alex to make themselves heard, to make people understand the moment, but unfortunately there were too few [leaders].
"It's a shame to have dropped two points, because the most difficult thing was to take the lead and we had to make better use of this opportunity."