Juventus boss Conte defends Lichtsteiner, Vidal

Juventus coach Antonio Conte has defended two of his underfire players.

There are question marks over the use of Stephan Lichtsteiner and Arturo Vidal after both were criticised for their displays at the weekend.

“Lichtsteiner plays in a role where he has to give a lot,” said Conte. “As a wide player he has to push and cover a fair amount of the pitch and he was playing his third game in seven days.

“As for Arturo, people see his intercepted pass from which Udinese scored, but he worked hard and I liked his overall performance.

“Saying that, we now have our fourth game in 10 days so I’ll have to evaluate things carefully.

“We didn’t have many midweek games at the start, but the adage that you don’t change a winning team doesn’t apply right now.

“Fortunately I’m able to pick from a squad of players who can offer me certain guarantees.”