Following his sides 2-0 defeat away to Juventus, Livorno coach Domenico Di Carlo admitted that he left star striker Paulinho out of the starting line-up to prevent him getting injured.
Two strikes in quick succession by Fernando Llorente downed the Labronici in the first-half and the loss means they remain in the bottom three of Serie A, however the Italian tactician was happy with the character his side showed throughout the game.
“We held out well for 25-minutes, then Llorente scored an incredible goal,” the 50-year-old told Rai Sport after the game.
“Against Inter we managed to produce an important second-half, against Juventus we weren’t able to replicate this.
“Buffon made a spectacular save, but I am happy with the character we showed and the performance.”
The former Chievo coach then commented on the absence of Livorno’s talisman Paulinho saying he was worried about the Brazilian becoming unavailable for future games.
“You need to understand that we have other forwards,” the tactician said.
“Paulinho is a player who could play for any side in Serie A, I was worried that against a physical team like Juventus he could pick up an injury.
“I played [Innocent] Emeghara and [Luca] Siligardi and the team played close to their maximum.”
Finally the Amaranto boss gave his thoughts on his sides chances of survival and their crucial clash against Chievo this Sunday.
“We know that for us the game against Chievo is a play-off,” Di Carlo continued. “We will have our fans behind us and we have to overcome the fatigue of playing against Juventus.
“Chievo could still be safe even if they lose, we are only thinking about one game at a time and we will see how it ends up.”
