Thiago Motta says he has an "extraordinary relationship" with Dusan Vlahovic after he proved Juventus' match-winner against Cagliari.

The Serbia striker made it 50 goal involvements in 95 Serie A appearances for Juve with a 12th-minute winner in a 1-0 triumph at Sardegna Arena on Sunday.

It was Vlahovic's first Juve start since January 29 but Juve boss Motta hailed the impact of the striker, who was thwarted on a couple of other occasions as Juve racked up a fourth straight league win.

"He plays because he deserves it. We have an extraordinary relationship. He has a strong character and mentality," he told DAZN.

"Today, he showed great professionalism and helps his teammates. It’s easy to manage a champion like him."

Moving 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙! #CagliariJuve pic.twitter.com/QrR9Rv5Wee

— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) February 23, 2025

Motta, though, was not altogether enamoured by Juve's finishing on the whole, with his side racking up a series of missed chances, particularly in a dominant first half.

"We had so many chances in the first half, we went into the break knowing that it would be a problem not finishing it off and inevitably we then suffered," Motta added.

"We lacked a bit of clarity in the second half, we suffered without conceding much, but without dominating like in the first half. Cagliari took over the pitch, and we can't allow our opponents to do all that."

Juve were dumped out of the Champions League in the play-off round by PSV in midweek but are now into the top four in Serie A and eight points adrift of leaders Inter.

Motta says his side will just take things one game at a time as they try to belatedly muscle in on the title picture.

"We have to take it one game at a time, especially now that we are getting into the crunch period of the season," added Motta. 

"It is a very balanced league and we’ve seen the top teams struggle this weekend too."