“Juventus enjoys our football” after the 1-0 win

Pierre Kalulu explains the meaning of “freedom” at Juventus under Thiago Motta after the victory over Lazio. “We are professionals, but we are also allowed to express ourselves and have fun with football.”

It was a neck-and-neck race for the top spot in Serie A, as the two teams entered the weekend with 13 points between them.

It was a surprisingly hard-fought affair considering Alessio Romagnoli was sent off after just 24 minutes for his false tackle from behind on Kalulu just outside the penalty area.

“I was already thinking about how to shoot and score, but I was interrupted,” Kalulu told Sky Sport Italia.

Would the versatile centre-back have expected that he would use Dusan Vlahovic's first pass so early in the game to get past the goal without making a mistake?

“We had prepared this movement in training to open up the spaces and run into the gap when they opened up. We try to defend as a unit and attack as a unit, so I saw the gap and decided to go for it.”

Kalulu is enjoying life at Juventus

Despite playing against 10 men, Juve struggled to beat Lazio and rarely tested Ivan Provedel, only eventually getting through through a Mario Gila own goal from a Juan Cabal cross.

“Even with just 10 men, Lazio remain a very well-organized team and have closed the spaces. On a technical level we can do better than we did tonight, but we knew Lazio would be very difficult to beat.”
The defender is on loan from Milan with an option to buy and was asked what he enjoyed most about working with Thiago Motta after difficulties at San Siro.

“We have to give everything in training and in games, but we also have the freedom to make decisions and try things out. We are professionals, but we are also allowed to express ourselves and have fun with football.”