ROME - Roma coach Luciano Spalletti believes his team's forthcoming Champions League clash with Real Madrid was a distraction which led to the Giallorossi's defeat at Juventus.
An Alessandro Del Piero free-kick allowed Juve to claim a 1-0 win in Turin on Saturday and reduce the gap on their second-placed opponents to just one point.
The result was a blow for Roma´s Scudetto ambitions, with unbeaten Internazionale claiming a 2-0 win over Livorno earlier in the day to extend their lead at the top of the Serie A standings to 11 points with 15 games remaining.
"In the first half we did very little," said Spalletti. "After the restart we did better but we nevertheless did less than we could have done.
"Perhaps the fact that we face a challenging game against Real Madrid on Tuesday, where you cannot make a mistake, could have affected my players´ approach to the game, while for the league games we can still recover."
Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri was full of praise for his team and in particular club captain Alessandro Del Piero.
The Bianconeri are not involved in European competition and can focus all their energy on Serie A.
"He is a golden boy," said Ranieri of Del Piero. "He works even harder than the others.
"I think my team played a great game in terms of spirit and willingness. The team is doing very well but we can only draw conclusions at the end.
"We must look ahead; we have to play each game as though it was the last one and continue to improve."
Inter relied on a brace of goals from Honduran striker David Suazo to clinch three points at the San Siro.
Coach Roberto Mancini rested several players, including top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with one eye on Wednesday´s Champions League encounter at Liverpool.
"It hasn´t been an easy game but the important thing was to win and we have done it," said Mancini.
"We have been able to do so while resting some of our players and now we can fully focus on our Champions League game against Liverpool."
Suazo believes this weekend´s victory will be a big confidence boost going into their clash with the Reds at Anfield.
"We are in good form," he said. "It´s going to be difficult for any team to face a determined Inter.
"It´s going to be a difficult game against Liverpool but we will go out to get a good result with the same concentration we have shown against Livorno."
