Thiago Motta praised Juventus for keeping their cool as they patiently awaited an opener in their late home win against Hellas Verona in Serie A on Monday.

Juventus earned a 2-0 victory thanks to late goals from Khephren Thuram and Teun Koopmeiners, having dominated the game throughout.

They fired off 27 shots to Verona's five, with 12 of those coming in the first half, more than they have attempted in the first period of any other Serie A game this campaign.

Only two teams have had more shots in the first 45 minutes without scoring a goal in 2024-25: Monza (16 against Udinese on matchday 15) and Napoli (15 against Lecce on matchday nine).

"The way we got to the three points was important and it wasn't easy," Motta told DAZN.

"Being calm means waiting and playing football. It's not easy because after the [Coppa Italia] elimination the atmosphere was particular, and you could have an extra desire and anxiety to do things.

"When it's like that you leave counterattacks, and instead we didn't give our opponents that opportunity. 

"In the second half we could have scored even more than the two goals. The boys deserved it and have a lot of quality."

Juve suffered a shock Coppa Italia exit last week when they were beaten 4-2 on penalties by Empoli in the competition's quarter-finals following a 1-1 draw.

"In the last match we got our attitude wrong in the first half but we are always very demanding with ourselves, we want to do better and that's the secret," Motta said.

"We have to look for something to improve every day. Today we had a great performance but that's part of the past."

The Bianconeri coach had words of encouragement for goalscorer Koopmeiners, who found the back of the net for the first time since the beginning of December.

"Koopmeiners did well and I'm very happy for him, he's a special guy," Motta added.

"He has a great mentality, it's a privilege for us to have him. He has to be convinced, confident and accept criticism. He's doing well and he'll give us a lot."

The Netherlands international, who joined Juve from Atalanta for a reported fee of €55 million in August, scored just his second Serie A goal for the Turin side.

Fourth-placed Juventus host Atalanta, who are third, on Sunday, with three points separating the sides.