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In an interview with the newspaper "Tuttosport," Turin's "Juventus" midfielder Claudio Marchisio touched on several topics, including the UEFA Europa and Champions Leagues.
At the beginning of the conversation with journalists, the Italian national team player did not miss the opportunity to praise coach Antonio Conte, who revived the team's winning mentality after years of absence.
"Antonio Conte brought back the winning mentality to the team, which was lacking in recent years," said Marchisio. "Due to the coach's work ethic, we sweat a lot during training sessions. This is what allowed us to achieve so much over the past three seasons."
According to Marchisio, the opening of the "Juventus" stadium in the summer of 2011 almost made it the team's twelfth player – this season, the Italian champions won all 15 home matches, thereby improving the "Serie A" record.
"I used to visit 'Delle Alpi' stadium as a fan and played at the 'Olimpico' field as a footballer. The latter did not have the same connection with the fans as 'Juventus Stadium' does now. From the first match with 'Parma,' it was clear that the fans would be our 12th player in this stadium," noted Marchisio.
When asked about Juventus' ambitions in the UEFA Europa League tournament, whose final will be played in Turin, Marchisio did not hide his desire to win.
"We are paying a lot of attention to this tournament. The final will take place in our stadium, so we want to go all the way and win the trophy. However, our goal is the Champions League. The club has not won this tournament for a long time, so we will try even harder in the upcoming season," promised Marchisio.
The last time Juventus triumphed in the prestigious continental tournament was on May 22, 1996, defeating Amsterdam's "Ajax" in the final.
