Lazio coach Igor Tudor was happy with his players in their Coppa Italia semifinal defeat to Juventus.

Fede Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic struck for Juve in their first-leg 2-0 win. Lazio had beaten Juve in Serie A on Saturday.

Tudor said: “We had a good first half and a bad second.

“We showed character to come here, but there were players who still need time to adapt and just started working with me. Juve were different to three days ago, we used up a lot of energy on Saturday and it was probably too much of a strain for us. There was an enormous difference in fitness levels today, I thought, and that showed in the second half.

“Plus Patric and Zaccagni had a few injury problems, Casale hasn't slept for two days as he had a kid yesterday, but he had to come on. We rather lost intensity and Juve took advantage. That can happen, but the 2-0 result still leaves everything open for the second leg.

“Out of four halves of football against Juventus, three were excellent. Juve have a different mentality at home, they have players worth €100m and they can make the difference.

“We knew from the start that the characteristics of these players were suited to a certain style, we need time to work on what isn't going well and build on the things that click."