AC Milan coach Pioli happy with spirit shown for Juventus draw

AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli was left happy after their 0-0 draw with Juventus.

Pioli was pleased with the spirit shown by his players.

He stated: We are going through a delicate moment, so reacting with this spirit of sacrifice and desire against a team that wanted to close up on us, that has the quality to cause us problems, that is all reassuring.

Obviously, we can do better in our final ball, but we sacrificed ourselves to get this result and I am very happy with their performance.

There was also an odd atmosphere, as our fans weren't there to support us, but we fought to the end and this is a good reaction."

Pioli also said: I thought the first half was a very good performance, then Juve threw on a lot of strikers and pinned us back, but we defended with a great deal of determination, because we knew that not losing today would be a positive result for us.

We sat back more, also knowing Juve's danger on the counter-attack and the absences we had in defence. It is also true that results determine the evaluation of a match, so if Juve had scored, people might've said we defended too deep.

This was our plan anyway, the players collaborated well during a delicate moment of the season, so I am very satisfied with their performance. I got the response I was looking for, now we'll try to secure second place and get as many points as possible."