Juventus head coach Thiago Motta has pleaded with his forwards to do more after they drew 0-0 away to Club Brugge on Tuesday in the Champions League.
That result means that Juventus slip to 14th in the 36-team table, while it was their 16th draw from 30 matches in all competitions this season.
The Italian side struggled to create any meaningful opportunities, with a late Manuel Locatelli effort the only shot on target during the entire match.
With plenty of players now returning from injury for them, Motta believes that now is the time for the forwards within the team to step up their performance level.
"Finally, we are starting to get some players back from injury, above all in attack," Motta told Sky Sports.
"We started with Samuel Mbangula, Nico Gonzalez and Timothy Weah, then Kenan Yildiz, Dusan Vlahovic and Francisco Conceicao came on.
"These are all players who can give us something more. Our forwards are the ones who at the moment have to contribute more to the team."
1 - Club Brugge v Juventus is the first UEFA Champions League match that has seen at most one shot on target since Lille v FC Bayern München on 23 October 2012. Minimalist.#CLUJuve #UCL pic.twitter.com/BedS5GS3TP
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) January 21, 2025
Motta was not purely negative in his post-match comments though, and did reserve some praise for Locatelli and Douglas Luiz who, he believes, excelled in their defensive and midfield roles in Belgium.
"It is a way of staying balanced, Manu understands the right moment to drop deep or push forward," he said.
"Douglas Luiz is a player with superior technical quality, in good shape physically right now and did very well in recent matches."