Maurizio Sarri: Being Top of Serie A After Inter Win 'Has Little Meaning'

Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri has played down the significance of his side taking first place in Serie A following Sunday's hard-fought 2-1 win away to former leaders Inter Milan.  

Antonio Conte's Inter dropped points in Serie A for the first time this season after the defending champions battled to take the win at the San Siro:

Sarri spoke to the official Juventus website after the result and said it had "little meaning" to move ahead of Inter at this point:

"Overtaking (Inter) at this time has little meaning. What matters is the performance and character shown against a strong team, which had always won up to this moment. We entered the game with a good approach, and we deserved to win.

"From this point of view, we have already taken important steps. What we need to work on is dominating the match, having territorial supremacy, pressing better and more, taking away any attacking initiative from the opposition so that we can spend our whole time in the opposition half. We have room for improvement, we are not 100 per cent yet, but the team is strong and so we can get the results."

Juventus were the first to blink in the race for this season's Scudetto after Fiorentina held them to a 0-0 draw in Florence in Week 3.

However, Sarri's side moved one point ahead of Inter following Sunday's win, when Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain scored either side of a Lautaro Martinez penalty to secure maximum points:

Former Napoli chief Sarri is hoping to win the Scudetto for the first time following his return to Italy. Inter counterpart Conte—the former Bianconeri boss and three-time winner of Serie A as a manager—looks like the biggest competition for that prize early on this season.

Eurosport's Siavoush Fallahi said he felt the distinction between the two title-challenging squads was clear following their first meeting this season:

Sarri is perhaps right to take a tentative approach to the title race instead of getting carried away with his team's new position in first, especially considering the lead still stands at one point.

Italian football writer Richard Hall praised Juventus for their preparations ahead of the Inter game:

Juventus remain unbeaten in 2019-20 and have won their last five games across all competitions.

Sarri's side will be happy to hold Serie A's lead heading into the international break, with Juventus set to resume their domestic campaign at home to Bologna on Saturday, Oct. 19.