Motta: Juventus must use anger of Coppa Italia exit against Verona

Thiago Motta has urged his Juventus players to use the anger of their shock exit from the Coppa Italia upon their return to Serie A action against Hellas Verona.

Motta watched on as his team were beaten on penalties by Empoli at the quarter-final stage of the competition on Wednesday.

It meant Juventus failed to reach the Coppa Italia semi-finals for only the second time in the last ten seasons, with their slim hopes of a trophy now hinging on the league.

But Motta's team find themselves nine points behind leaders Inter, though they did drop points on Saturday after being held to a 1-1 draw by second-placed Napoli.

Juventus finish top of Serie A in just 1.1% of Opta's data-led simulations, but Motta is hoping his squad can use the disappointment of their recent cup exit to fuel a title tilt.

"Losing a game like we lost is not easy, but it is our duty to think about the next match, train and be ready to face our opponent at our best," Motta told reporters.

"It will be complicated, but at the same time, we have energy and desire to transform this anger of ours and show we are superior on the pitch and get the three points."

Motta was furious after the Empoli defeat, when he spoke of feeling shame and hoped the players did the same, ahead of their bid for a fourth successive league win.

"There is a huge disappointment on everyone's part. We didn't take responsibility on the pitch, we put ourselves in great difficulty," Motta said.

"We messed up on something that shouldn't be messed up. I see the players every day and I know how much effort they put in, which is why I was angry the other day.

"We have talked, we have always discussed it in a positive way to be constructive, we know that there are 12 games left where, one by one, we will face them at our best so as not to repeat what happened against Empoli."

But Motta, and Juventus, will have reason to be confident of bouncing back from their Coppa Italia exit given their recent record over Verona in Serie A.

They have won five of their last six Serie A matches against them (D1), keeping five clean sheets in this period, helped by an impressive streak at the Allianz Stadium.

Verona are the opponent Juventus have played the most home games without losing in Serie A, winning 28 and drawing five times across their 33 meetings in Turin.