Motta: Juventus players will 'give something more' after Bremer injury

By Sports Desk October 05, 2024

Thiago Motta believes the Juventus players will "all give something more" for Bremer after he suffered a potentially season-ending injury.

The Brazilian, who had played every single minute this season, was forced off with an anterior cruciate ligament injury early in their 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig on Wednesday.

He has played a big part in Juventus keeping six clean sheets from six games in the league and has played more minutes (540) while making the most interceptions (six) and blocks (11) among his team-mates in the competition. 

Motta expects him to be a big miss against Cagliari at the weekend.

"Gleison [Bremer] is an important player for us," Motta said. "I'm very sorry for the boy, because already, humanly speaking, he is fantastic, technically I don't need to say it, we all know it.

"From now on we will all give something more, also because if it had been another team-mate who had to stop like that, I am convinced that he would have taken this responsibility to give something more every day."

Motta will also be without forward Timothy Weah, winger Nicolas Gonzalez, midfielder Vasilije Adzic, along with long-term absentee Arkadius Milik, but the manager expects a positive show from the players who come into the side. 

"Whoever comes in, I am convinced they will give something more," Motta said.

"Always thinking about the well-being of the team and giving a good performance to obtain the positive result, which is what we want to do.

"Tomorrow, in our stadium, our home, in front of our fans, a full ground, a great football atmosphere and we will do our job well from the first to the last minute."

Juventus impressed in Europe, recovering not only from early injuries to Bremer and Gonzalez, but also from going behind twice, and having keeper Michele Di Gregorio sent off.

Now, Motta wants his side to keep that enthusiasm without getting carried away.

"The enthusiasm, used well, is always good, and we use it to work," the manager said.

"We use it to come to the pitch every day and do our job well. This is the great advantage of being able to work with enthusiasm.

"It helps, and we want to maintain that enthusiasm, but it only depends on us. We will always have our feet on the ground, aware of our strengths, and using our strengths in the right way."

French midfielder Paul Pogba had his four-year doping suspension cut to 18 months on Friday, meaning he can return to action in March, but Motta's only concern is the immediate future of his team.

"On Paul Pogba, the club will evaluate what to do," Motta said.

"As for me, Pogba has been a great player, who hasn't played for a long time. Now I'm focused on tomorrow's game and everything else doesn't matter much to me at this moment."

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