Juventus not yet Serie A contenders, says Motta

MILAN - Coach Thiago Motta acknowledged that Juventus are not in the Serie A title race just yet and emphasised the importance of maintaining focus on their growth after they secured a dramatic 4-4 draw with champions Inter Milan, thanks to two late goals on Oct 27.

With Juventus trailing 4-2, teenager Kenan Yildiz came off the bench and scored twice to rescue a point for his team.

Piotr Zielinski had opened the scoring for Inter with the first of his two penalties on 15 minutes, before Juve hit back with goals by Dusan Vlahovic and Timothy Weah midway through the first half.

But by the half-time whistle, Inter were ahead again, thanks to Zielinski's second spot kick and a Henrikh Mkhitaryan strike. They extended their advantage to 4-2 eight minutes into the second half through Denzel Dumfries, before Yildiz's late intervention.

Juve's inability to dominate proceedings led Motta to acknowledge that his players were a long way off from challenging for the Scudetto.