Juventus' Pirlo dedicates 5-0 victory against Fiorentina to Muamba

Posted Sunday, March 18, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

Juventus dedicated all of its goals in Saturday's 5-0 Serie A victory over Fiorentina to Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba.

The 23-year-old collapsed to the ground against Tottenham in the sides' FA Cup quarterfinal tie earlier in the evening, and has since been admitted to intensive care at the heart attack unit of the London Chest Hospital.

Midfielder Andrea Pirlo was quick to pay the Old Lady's respects towards the critically-ill player after the match

"We wanted to dedicate our goals to Bolton's player Fabrice Muamba, who is fighting for his life," he said. "We are all close to him and hopefully he will recover soon."

Pirlo then reflected on Juve's five-star performance against Fiorentina, and ignored suggestions the early red card shown to opposing winger Alessio Cerci was a turning point in the fixture, claiming his team was hungry for the win from the first whistle.

"Tonight we scored a lot of goals, but perhaps it was better to register a few less today and a few more in previous matches," he said. "We started well and we wanted to respond to the victory of AC Milan [over Parma]. Certainly the sending-off of Cerci helped us, but we were on the ball from the first minute."

Juventus remains second in the Serie A standings, four points behind leader AC Milan.