Conte praises players' attitude

Juventus coach Antonio Conte has praised his side's approach after they eventually broke down Cesena to claim three points and return to the top of Serie A yesterday. Claudio Marchisio opened the scoring in the 74th minute of a one-sided game and Arturo Vidal scored the second from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute after Francesco Antonioli was controversially sent off. It had been a test of patience for the hosts, with Cesena showing little intention of claiming anything other than a point. Conte was impressed by his team's maturity, before singling out certain individuals for praise. He said: "Cesena give in? No, it was us who made them crumble, by forcing them to play with 11 men behind the ball. I liked the attitude and the drive displayed by my players. They played knowing the goal would come sooner or later and the 21 shots on goal tell the full story. "I'm happy about the tests of [Michele] Pazienza, [Fabio] Quagliarella and [Emanuele] Giaccherini. Now we'll turn our attentions to the Coppa Italia, and will only consider Roma from Thursday night onwards." It was a strong performance by Vidal, scoring one and helping create another as Juve went two points clear of AC Milan and Udinese by maintaining their unbeaten record after 13 games this season. The Chilean said: "I'm very happy about the three points and the hard-fought victory. It was important to break the deadlock somehow and we managed to do it. "We're continuing our spectacular championship form and a win in this manner helps us to go on in the same vein. We're a great group and my team-mates have made me feel indispensable. I couldn't have settled in any better."