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Inter ponder Mancio alternative
Inter will target either Cesare Prandelli or Fabio Capello if boss Roberto Mancini is not confirmed in the Nerazzurri hot-seat next term.
Mancio’s future is in doubt as both the club and the tactician ponder their next move following another disappointing campaign.
Although they have reached the Coppa Italia Final for the second successive season, they look destined to finish third in Serie A and exited the Champions League at the last eight stage to minnows Villarreal.
Those results have angered fans and owner Massimo Moratti to such a degree that Mancini has said he wants to move abroad once he leaves Inter, while Moratti is thinking of selling up.
However, the latter now looks likely to keep the faith with the club even if Mancini may walk with Newcastle United reportedly interested in his services.
So who will Inter make a move for if the Sampdoria legend does decide to terminate his San Siro stint at the end of this term?
Capello is liked given his winning record at clubs such as Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and now Juventus.
Although the tactician has stated that he was set to stay with the Old Lady, a split may be on the cards after the Bianconeri’s disappointing Champions League defeat to Arsenal.
Prandelli is also an option for the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza outfit after his success in Tuscany this term.
The former Parma tactician joined Fiorentina in the summer and has turned last season’s relegation strugglers into a Champions League challenger.
Ironically, Prandelli would also become a Juventus target if Capello did land the Inter job for the 2006-07 campaign.
Channel4
Inter will target either Cesare Prandelli or Fabio Capello if boss Roberto Mancini is not confirmed in the Nerazzurri hot-seat next term.
Mancio’s future is in doubt as both the club and the tactician ponder their next move following another disappointing campaign.
Although they have reached the Coppa Italia Final for the second successive season, they look destined to finish third in Serie A and exited the Champions League at the last eight stage to minnows Villarreal.
Those results have angered fans and owner Massimo Moratti to such a degree that Mancini has said he wants to move abroad once he leaves Inter, while Moratti is thinking of selling up.
However, the latter now looks likely to keep the faith with the club even if Mancini may walk with Newcastle United reportedly interested in his services.
So who will Inter make a move for if the Sampdoria legend does decide to terminate his San Siro stint at the end of this term?
Capello is liked given his winning record at clubs such as Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and now Juventus.
Although the tactician has stated that he was set to stay with the Old Lady, a split may be on the cards after the Bianconeri’s disappointing Champions League defeat to Arsenal.
Prandelli is also an option for the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza outfit after his success in Tuscany this term.
The former Parma tactician joined Fiorentina in the summer and has turned last season’s relegation strugglers into a Champions League challenger.
Ironically, Prandelli would also become a Juventus target if Capello did land the Inter job for the 2006-07 campaign.
Channel4
Tuesday 18 April, 2006
Juventus’ title hopes have been boosted after David Trezeguet and Emerson returned to training on Tuesday.
The pair have been struggling physically for a number of weeks with a variety of fitness issues to resolve.
But the international duo were back in action earlier today as Juventus look to wrap up their second consecutive Scudetto, their 29th in total.
After drawing their previous four games, the Old Lady are now just five points clear of Milan with four games of the season remaining.
The squad resumed activity on Tuesday after being handed two days off following Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Cagliari.
Boss Fabio Capello started the session by hold a 10-minute talk with the players, also in the presence of the club’s chief operating officer Antonio Giraudo.
Their next League game is against Lazio at the Stadio Delle Alpi on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Juventus are today being linked with French international midfielder Olivier Dacourt.
The former Leeds United ace, who Capello bossed at Roma, is set to leave the capital at the end of this season after failing to agree terms over a new deal.
Dacourt has been linked with clubs in France and England, with Premiership sides Bolton and Manchester City interested in his services.
From channel4.com
From a stranglehold to a choke?
Serie A leaders Juventus are in danger of emulating their spectacular collapse of 2000, leaving Champions League hopefuls AC Milan in a title chase they could probably do without.
There may be an Easter metaphor in here somewhere, but the title race that looked dead and buried has been resurrected. After a weekend of passion and crosses, Juve's lead over Milan at the Serie A summit is now down to just five points with four games to go. Compare that to the luxurious 14-point lead they were enjoying a few months back and you'll understand why Juve are suddenly looking very, very worried. They've been here before ... and lost.
In May 2000, Juventus blew the title on the last day of the season with an unexpected 1-0 reverse at Perugia, amid a downpour so dramatic that local wildlife began to pair up and form an orderly queue. That year Juve also held a five-point lead with four games to go, only to end up coming second to Sven-Goran Eriksson's Lazio. The defeat marked the beginning of the end for Carlo Ancelotti as Juve manager, and given that he's now in charge of Milan, he'd surely love to see a repeat.
Talk of a comeback was boosted this weekend by two games: Juve's last gasp draw at Cagliari and the Rossoneri's own victory in the Milan derby. The latter match was singular for two reasons. Firstly, it was played on a Friday afternoon (Milan wanted extra prep time for the Barcelona game) and the Vatican claimed first dibs on Good Friday prime-time. Secondly, it was boycotted by Inter's hardcore followers. Hours before the match, Nerazzurri ultras sealed off the entrances to the San Siro's Curva Nord CSI-style in protest at their team's disastrous exit from the Champion's League. Sick of Inter being shown up, they decided not to. As the forlorn banners in their empty Curva put it: 'We haven't bothered because you never do."
Just 150 metres away, as the moped flies, on the other side of the ground, Milan's fans greeted the game in cheerier fashion. They'd spent the week preparing a giant banner spoofing, as hardcore football fans are wont to do, Dante's Divine Comedy. It stretched across their entire terrace with an accompanying message for their neighbours: "Since 1908, the real comedy has been you."
It must have made quite a sight for the Inter players as they emerged blinking from the tunnel, but to their credit they began the match in confident fashion. Even Cristiano Zanetti looked in top form, despite having been assaulted by his own fans in last week's airport attack. Up front, lone striker Adriano trotted along enthusiastically, veering in the general direction of Milan's goal without ever quite getting there. Needless to say, Milan had one eye on their upcoming match with Barcelona and created little, and for a while it looked like comedians Inter might get the last laugh. As usual though, it wasn't to be. About an hour in, shortly after Luis Figo had headed a golden chance to open the scoring wide, Milan struck. Inter's backline was caught ball-watching as Clarence Seedorf swung a poorly-cleared shot back into the box, where an unmarked Kakha Kaladze volleyed the ball home without further ado.
And that was that. Instead of a win and a move past Milan back into second place, Inter drop to five behind their neighbours and continue their Dante-esque journey through the outer circles of hell. That's Joe Dante, of course. Post-game, the misery continued, with owner Massimo Moratti maintaining his new-found reserve, Adriano threatening a move away and, worst of all, manager Roberto Mancini offered work by Newcastle United.
Over at Milan, meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti was telling all and sundry that Milan were 'still only thinking of Barcelona' and, moreover, that any points they got in the league were useful above all for 'keeping clear of Inter'. In short, a title race is the last thing he claims to want on his generously appointed plate, what with the Champions League to worry about. The problem is that leaders Juventus now seem incapable of settling the matter with a few swift victories. From Highbury to last weekend in Sardinia, La Signora have now gone without a win for six official matches.
Saturday afternoon's game saw Fabio Capello's cream-crackered fellows very nearly lose against a Cagliari side lying fourth-last in the league. Admittedly the Sardinians only had one shot on goal all afternoon, and that from a penalty, which they scored. Juve, by contrast, saw a spot-kick of their own and countless other chances either blasted wide or ably fielded by a familiar looking keeper named Antonio Chimenti, whom Capello cut from the Juve roster in January. When the 90th minute arrived with Juve still 1-0 down, the referee generously awarded five minutes of time added on, and with just three seconds of this left, Juve struck. Fabio Cannavaro leapt salmon-like
onto a Camoranesi corner and headed home the late, late equaliser. Angry Cagliari players surrounded the referee, earning red cards for both Chimenti and Antonio Langella. Elsewhere, a euphoric Fabio Capello leapt from the bench to run the length of the pitch, a bit like Marco Tardelli in Spain 1982.
Juve are boycotting the press until such time as they've got something nice to say again , but given Capello's reaction to winning a point at humble Cagliari, it's fair to say they've got the wind up. Comfortingly for Capello, the two teams' run-ins are roughly equivalent. Juve host Uefa hopefuls Lazio, visit relegation-threatened Siena, return home for Palermo then finish at Reggina, who may still be battling relegation. Milan, meanwhile, visit third-from-last Messina this weekend, host Livorno (who've now lost seven straight games), visit Parma (safe and on a roll) and finish at home to Roma. And as things stand, the Giallorossi will probably be playing for a place in the Champion's League.
All in all, Juve's fixture list doesn't look significantly harder than Milan's - if anything it may be a touch easier - so five points should be a more than healthy buffer. Then again, they probably thought the same thing back in 2000.
James Richardson
Tuesday April 18, 2006
Serie A leaders Juventus are in danger of emulating their spectacular collapse of 2000, leaving Champions League hopefuls AC Milan in a title chase they could probably do without.
There may be an Easter metaphor in here somewhere, but the title race that looked dead and buried has been resurrected. After a weekend of passion and crosses, Juve's lead over Milan at the Serie A summit is now down to just five points with four games to go. Compare that to the luxurious 14-point lead they were enjoying a few months back and you'll understand why Juve are suddenly looking very, very worried. They've been here before ... and lost.
In May 2000, Juventus blew the title on the last day of the season with an unexpected 1-0 reverse at Perugia, amid a downpour so dramatic that local wildlife began to pair up and form an orderly queue. That year Juve also held a five-point lead with four games to go, only to end up coming second to Sven-Goran Eriksson's Lazio. The defeat marked the beginning of the end for Carlo Ancelotti as Juve manager, and given that he's now in charge of Milan, he'd surely love to see a repeat.
Talk of a comeback was boosted this weekend by two games: Juve's last gasp draw at Cagliari and the Rossoneri's own victory in the Milan derby. The latter match was singular for two reasons. Firstly, it was played on a Friday afternoon (Milan wanted extra prep time for the Barcelona game) and the Vatican claimed first dibs on Good Friday prime-time. Secondly, it was boycotted by Inter's hardcore followers. Hours before the match, Nerazzurri ultras sealed off the entrances to the San Siro's Curva Nord CSI-style in protest at their team's disastrous exit from the Champion's League. Sick of Inter being shown up, they decided not to. As the forlorn banners in their empty Curva put it: 'We haven't bothered because you never do."
Just 150 metres away, as the moped flies, on the other side of the ground, Milan's fans greeted the game in cheerier fashion. They'd spent the week preparing a giant banner spoofing, as hardcore football fans are wont to do, Dante's Divine Comedy. It stretched across their entire terrace with an accompanying message for their neighbours: "Since 1908, the real comedy has been you."
It must have made quite a sight for the Inter players as they emerged blinking from the tunnel, but to their credit they began the match in confident fashion. Even Cristiano Zanetti looked in top form, despite having been assaulted by his own fans in last week's airport attack. Up front, lone striker Adriano trotted along enthusiastically, veering in the general direction of Milan's goal without ever quite getting there. Needless to say, Milan had one eye on their upcoming match with Barcelona and created little, and for a while it looked like comedians Inter might get the last laugh. As usual though, it wasn't to be. About an hour in, shortly after Luis Figo had headed a golden chance to open the scoring wide, Milan struck. Inter's backline was caught ball-watching as Clarence Seedorf swung a poorly-cleared shot back into the box, where an unmarked Kakha Kaladze volleyed the ball home without further ado.
And that was that. Instead of a win and a move past Milan back into second place, Inter drop to five behind their neighbours and continue their Dante-esque journey through the outer circles of hell. That's Joe Dante, of course. Post-game, the misery continued, with owner Massimo Moratti maintaining his new-found reserve, Adriano threatening a move away and, worst of all, manager Roberto Mancini offered work by Newcastle United.
Over at Milan, meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti was telling all and sundry that Milan were 'still only thinking of Barcelona' and, moreover, that any points they got in the league were useful above all for 'keeping clear of Inter'. In short, a title race is the last thing he claims to want on his generously appointed plate, what with the Champions League to worry about. The problem is that leaders Juventus now seem incapable of settling the matter with a few swift victories. From Highbury to last weekend in Sardinia, La Signora have now gone without a win for six official matches.
Saturday afternoon's game saw Fabio Capello's cream-crackered fellows very nearly lose against a Cagliari side lying fourth-last in the league. Admittedly the Sardinians only had one shot on goal all afternoon, and that from a penalty, which they scored. Juve, by contrast, saw a spot-kick of their own and countless other chances either blasted wide or ably fielded by a familiar looking keeper named Antonio Chimenti, whom Capello cut from the Juve roster in January. When the 90th minute arrived with Juve still 1-0 down, the referee generously awarded five minutes of time added on, and with just three seconds of this left, Juve struck. Fabio Cannavaro leapt salmon-like
onto a Camoranesi corner and headed home the late, late equaliser. Angry Cagliari players surrounded the referee, earning red cards for both Chimenti and Antonio Langella. Elsewhere, a euphoric Fabio Capello leapt from the bench to run the length of the pitch, a bit like Marco Tardelli in Spain 1982. Juve are boycotting the press until such time as they've got something nice to say again
, but given Capello's reaction to winning a point at humble Cagliari, it's fair to say they've got the wind up. Comfortingly for Capello, the two teams' run-ins are roughly equivalent. Juve host Uefa hopefuls Lazio, visit relegation-threatened Siena, return home for Palermo then finish at Reggina, who may still be battling relegation. Milan, meanwhile, visit third-from-last Messina this weekend, host Livorno (who've now lost seven straight games), visit Parma (safe and on a roll) and finish at home to Roma. And as things stand, the Giallorossi will probably be playing for a place in the Champion's League.All in all, Juve's fixture list doesn't look significantly harder than Milan's - if anything it may be a touch easier - so five points should be a more than healthy buffer. Then again, they probably thought the same thing back in 2000.
James Richardson
Tuesday April 18, 2006
Apologies if you've already seen this...
http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,,1760322,00.html
Serie A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juventus make a molehill out of a mountain
With three rounds of the season to go, Juve's 'Himalayan' lead has been whittled down from 14 points to three. James Richardson rounds up the latest stuff of Fabio Capello's nightmares
James Richardson
Monday April 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Thirty-three minutes into Saturday's round of games, the frame of the Juventus dugout suddenly toppled backwards at the Stadio delle Alpi. Spookily, at almost exactly the same moment Milan were taking the lead down at Messina and, with Juve trailing in Turin, the Old Lady's lead was down to just two points. Her substitutes gazed bewildered at the blue sky where their dugout roof used to be. Meanwhile Fabio Capello stared at the ground with the air of a man who knows a nasty omen when he sees one.
This season of dreams is fast turning into a nightmare for Capello. The Himalayan lead of 14 points over Milan his side enjoyed in February has been whittled away to just three - the equivalent of a small hillock in the Cotswolds. After a record 14 wins in their first 15 matches this season, Juve have now won a grand total of one of their last seven (against Livorno) and their rivals are shaping up to whip the title from under their noses. Did someone slip Fabio a Coaching The Keegan Way DVD for Christmas, or is something else afoot in Turin?
Chief suspect for the collapse is actually Capello himself. For the first five months of the season, the manager's insistence on the same starting XI was hailed as yet another stroke of square-jawed genius as Juve rocketed way ahead of the pack. However, since February we've seen the downside: the team have been moving with all the pace of a crippled snail in treacle and are, in the Italian parlance, "boiled". Opinion is now swinging against Fabio, who continues to neglect the fresher legs on the bench. For example, this Saturday he stuck with the hopeless Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jonathan Zebina instead of Alex Del Piero and Federico Balzaretti.
Of course, Juve's problems don't end there. There's also the knock-on effect of their Champions League exit, which was also largely provoked by their general state of exhaustion. There are rumours too of a sizeable split in the Old Lady's dressing room, although evidence for this is scarce as Juve have drawn their wagons in a circle with a hasty press blackout.
Still, the Gazzetta dello Sport reckon they've got all the proof they need just from watching Capello's sideline reactions this weekend. The week before, Fabio Cannavaro's late, late equaliser at Cagliari saw Don Fabio switch into David Pleat mode and bounce dementedly down the sideline, but the same trick from David Trezeguet against Lazio failed to bring the barest flicker of a smile.
It's an interesting theory, but then Capello had some cause to feel short-changed on Saturday. Juventus looked livelier than they had in a long while, but their repeated breaks forward were thwarted time and time again by Lazio keeper Angelo Peruzzi. Thus it was the visitors who took the lead, with Goran Pandev collecting a long ball from Valon Behrami and cutting it back to Tommaso Rocchi in the box, who fired it straight between the legs of Juve's reserve keeper Christian Abbiati.
Five minutes later Lazio struck again when Ousmane Dabo cannoned in a loose ball from well outside the area, but an attempt by another Lazio player to divert the shot in front of Abbiati meant the goal was (correctly) disallowed for offside. Dabo then got sent off for dissent, and instead of being two goals up Lazio found themselves a man down. The Old Lady subsequently shifted up a gear, but with the 36 year old former Juve star Peruzzi in career-best form, it wasn't until four minutes from time that they finally found an equaliser. David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedved exchanged passes over the heads of the exhausted Lazio defence before the Frenchman's delicate volley tipped the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper. Dramatically, with just 30 seconds left on the clock, Zlatan Ibrahimovic then had the chance to grab all three points, but fired wide - much to no one's surprise.
With Milan coming back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Messina (in an angry match featuring four red cards and injuries for Cafu, Alessandro Nesta, Kaká, Andriy Shevchenko and Massimo Ambrosini ahead of Wednesday's Barcelona game), just one victory now separates the two title rivals. Which means Juve need two wins and a draw from their last three games. For a side that's failed to win any of their last seven official games, that sounds a tall order.
Juve face Siena away, Palermo at home and finish at Reggina. However, Milan's victory over Messina means the Sicilians are odds on to be the final team going down, so Reggina may have nothing left to play for by the final day.
Aside from their semi-final with Barça, Milan have Livorno at home, Parma away and finish at the San Siro against Roma. Livorno have just ended their seven-game losing streak but have nothing left to play for, while Parma have already shut up shop for the summer after completing a miracle escape from the drop. So far, so good. Roma are a different matter, however - the giallorossi's draw with Sampdoria this weekend means Fiorentina have taken a three-point lead in their race for fourth place, so chances are Roma will still be fighting for that Champions League place come the final day.
However it plays out, it's going to be tight. The next key match is Sunday afternoon's visit by Juve to Siena which we're showing live on Bravo at 1.30pm. The hosts have an unhappy reputation as a Juventus franchise, since half of their squad originated on La Signora's books. Naturally there are suspicions about how much resistance they'll offer; suspicions that have been hotly refuted by Siena's manager, Luigi De Canio (whose agent, as it happens, is the son of Juve's director general), who has been quick to point out that Siena are not mathematically safe from the drop. Only time will tell and we shall see - will the bench tumble again? Will black cats cross Juve's path on the way to the ground? Or can Fabio Capello's side finally seal its 29th title? Join me next week for another instalment of this nerve-jangling saga.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/continentalfootball/story/0,,1760322,00.html
Serie A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juventus make a molehill out of a mountain
With three rounds of the season to go, Juve's 'Himalayan' lead has been whittled down from 14 points to three. James Richardson rounds up the latest stuff of Fabio Capello's nightmares
James Richardson
Monday April 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Thirty-three minutes into Saturday's round of games, the frame of the Juventus dugout suddenly toppled backwards at the Stadio delle Alpi. Spookily, at almost exactly the same moment Milan were taking the lead down at Messina and, with Juve trailing in Turin, the Old Lady's lead was down to just two points. Her substitutes gazed bewildered at the blue sky where their dugout roof used to be. Meanwhile Fabio Capello stared at the ground with the air of a man who knows a nasty omen when he sees one.
This season of dreams is fast turning into a nightmare for Capello. The Himalayan lead of 14 points over Milan his side enjoyed in February has been whittled away to just three - the equivalent of a small hillock in the Cotswolds. After a record 14 wins in their first 15 matches this season, Juve have now won a grand total of one of their last seven (against Livorno) and their rivals are shaping up to whip the title from under their noses. Did someone slip Fabio a Coaching The Keegan Way DVD for Christmas, or is something else afoot in Turin?
Chief suspect for the collapse is actually Capello himself. For the first five months of the season, the manager's insistence on the same starting XI was hailed as yet another stroke of square-jawed genius as Juve rocketed way ahead of the pack. However, since February we've seen the downside: the team have been moving with all the pace of a crippled snail in treacle and are, in the Italian parlance, "boiled". Opinion is now swinging against Fabio, who continues to neglect the fresher legs on the bench. For example, this Saturday he stuck with the hopeless Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jonathan Zebina instead of Alex Del Piero and Federico Balzaretti.
Of course, Juve's problems don't end there. There's also the knock-on effect of their Champions League exit, which was also largely provoked by their general state of exhaustion. There are rumours too of a sizeable split in the Old Lady's dressing room, although evidence for this is scarce as Juve have drawn their wagons in a circle with a hasty press blackout.
Still, the Gazzetta dello Sport reckon they've got all the proof they need just from watching Capello's sideline reactions this weekend. The week before, Fabio Cannavaro's late, late equaliser at Cagliari saw Don Fabio switch into David Pleat mode and bounce dementedly down the sideline, but the same trick from David Trezeguet against Lazio failed to bring the barest flicker of a smile.
It's an interesting theory, but then Capello had some cause to feel short-changed on Saturday. Juventus looked livelier than they had in a long while, but their repeated breaks forward were thwarted time and time again by Lazio keeper Angelo Peruzzi. Thus it was the visitors who took the lead, with Goran Pandev collecting a long ball from Valon Behrami and cutting it back to Tommaso Rocchi in the box, who fired it straight between the legs of Juve's reserve keeper Christian Abbiati.
Five minutes later Lazio struck again when Ousmane Dabo cannoned in a loose ball from well outside the area, but an attempt by another Lazio player to divert the shot in front of Abbiati meant the goal was (correctly) disallowed for offside. Dabo then got sent off for dissent, and instead of being two goals up Lazio found themselves a man down. The Old Lady subsequently shifted up a gear, but with the 36 year old former Juve star Peruzzi in career-best form, it wasn't until four minutes from time that they finally found an equaliser. David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedved exchanged passes over the heads of the exhausted Lazio defence before the Frenchman's delicate volley tipped the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper. Dramatically, with just 30 seconds left on the clock, Zlatan Ibrahimovic then had the chance to grab all three points, but fired wide - much to no one's surprise.
With Milan coming back from a goal down to win 3-1 at Messina (in an angry match featuring four red cards and injuries for Cafu, Alessandro Nesta, Kaká, Andriy Shevchenko and Massimo Ambrosini ahead of Wednesday's Barcelona game), just one victory now separates the two title rivals. Which means Juve need two wins and a draw from their last three games. For a side that's failed to win any of their last seven official games, that sounds a tall order.
Juve face Siena away, Palermo at home and finish at Reggina. However, Milan's victory over Messina means the Sicilians are odds on to be the final team going down, so Reggina may have nothing left to play for by the final day.
Aside from their semi-final with Barça, Milan have Livorno at home, Parma away and finish at the San Siro against Roma. Livorno have just ended their seven-game losing streak but have nothing left to play for, while Parma have already shut up shop for the summer after completing a miracle escape from the drop. So far, so good. Roma are a different matter, however - the giallorossi's draw with Sampdoria this weekend means Fiorentina have taken a three-point lead in their race for fourth place, so chances are Roma will still be fighting for that Champions League place come the final day.
However it plays out, it's going to be tight. The next key match is Sunday afternoon's visit by Juve to Siena which we're showing live on Bravo at 1.30pm. The hosts have an unhappy reputation as a Juventus franchise, since half of their squad originated on La Signora's books. Naturally there are suspicions about how much resistance they'll offer; suspicions that have been hotly refuted by Siena's manager, Luigi De Canio (whose agent, as it happens, is the son of Juve's director general), who has been quick to point out that Siena are not mathematically safe from the drop. Only time will tell and we shall see - will the bench tumble again? Will black cats cross Juve's path on the way to the ground? Or can Fabio Capello's side finally seal its 29th title? Join me next week for another instalment of this nerve-jangling saga.
Check this out, Juve fans.
------------------------------
Well it didn’t take long did it? I concluded my last article by indicating that before long we would hear the next series of Anti-Juve sentiment. Low and behold, not a week after my article was posted, the next smear campaign against “La Vecchia Campionessa” has now infected every major football site on the web (though Goal.com was quickest off the mark in English! - Ed). Naturally the Anti-Juventino is in a state of ecstasy while the Juve fan has had his/her possible 29th scudetto celebration cut short even before it began. Once again I find myself at the water cooler at work being ridiculed by Premiership fans, Liga fans, hockey, baseball, and basketball fans over another episode of the most ridiculous soap opera in professional sport, Serie A.
What can I say? I suppose a lot needs to be considered when deciphering these, the latest in what seems to be a non-stop onslaught of claims. Things such as the source, their motivation, timing, and overall meaning seem to go over the heads of many who have already commented on this site. I however, am more cynical and opt to delve deeper. It is my instinct to doubt everything, especially the media, especially in Italy where I resided and where I was disgusted by the lack of objectivity in their right wing owned media (be it politics, economy, the war in Iraq, and now sport). I am going to move right past the obvious fact that a citizen’s right to privacy has been publicly raped (Luciano Moggi) and get right into what I feel the majority of readers are overlooking.
Where did this come from? The first thing that needs to be called into question is the credibility (or lack thereof) of the Italian media. While living in Italy one of my first realisations regarding the Italian print media is that there is little distinction between Newspaper and Tabloid in Italy. The average serious newspaper in Italy is no better than the average North American gossip column and holds very little weight outside of the boot. It is often criticized and quite transparent. Upon reading an average article the apparent position of the writers and editors are clear as day. Today’s headlines were no different. My question is; why does no one else see the agenda? The media is for the most part (not totally) run by the Royal Family of media communications. The same Royal Family that as of late ran the nation and to this day own the rival squad of the very team so often accused. This is a coincidence to everyone else? Frankly any “newspaper” that prints conversations acquired with no proof of incriminating evidence is no more than a trash rag. I’m not saying they made it up. The FIGC launched an investigation and wire taps were leaked to the media (right on the eve of another title despite being concluded in September of 2005…how strange). The way in which they reported it however was in a very accusing manner (I read them directly from la Gazzetta). No objectivity in a headline that reads “I Furbetti del Calcio”, “The Clever Minds of Football”, the word misleading here would be an understatement.
The power the media yields is also worth noting. The media controls what we read and how much we are entitled to know. No doubt media ethics are a foreign ideology in Italy but it needs to be acknowledged that the media have the potential to print what suits them and take whatever they need out of context in order to prove whatever they, the editors, or the owners/investors desire to prove. Among other problems, translation is key. I read both the Italian and English versions and have to say that from a literal stance it was accurate, but there is much symbolism in the Italian (or any language) that can be lost and or misinterpreted in translation. For example, “Mi raccomando” does not mean, “you know what I mean? This sounded as though Moggi was implying something sinister when in fact in Italy “mi raccomando” is a normal way of saying bye to someone. It is like saying, “take care of yourself”. This however is a minor detail. More important things need to be called into question.
Is it lost on everyone else that all these stories seem to surface precisely at the end of a season? Last year we heard the Serie B scandals, we heard the bankruptcies of the Capital Clubs. We heard of the steroid use, etc. etc. It all amounted to nothing (except for the Serie B scandal) but it kept sales up in the off-season. Remarkably, this is also coming at another crucial point. Juventus are in the height of a month long “silenzio stampa” which means Media Silence. No one else apparently has noticed that nearly every other time Juve have implemented this sort of media blackout some sort of claim has surfaced as a form of backlash. Cannavaro’s drug allegation, the prior steroid accusation, etc. all stemmed from media blackouts. Today is no different.
Let us set all of these other factors aside for a moment and assume the sources are credible, and that the media is impartial. Let us assume no other motives drove this to the front pages. Let us assume nothing was taken out of context and that the tapes are audible and clear. What was really said? Frankly, after reading everything posted I was disappointed. I was expecting an atomic bomb and what I read was nothing more than grown men bad mouthing colleagues, competitors, and superiors like old ladies. Granted it is embarrassing but certainly not incriminating. The only thing these tapes have proven is that Luciano is on good terms with UEFA and Lega delegates. Is this new? We’ve seen them sit together at games. We’ve seen Galliani and Berlusconi sit with them at games. These are all colleagues employed at the same Leagues. Luciano Moggi has been seen exiting Galliani’s office a number of times. Why wouldn’t he? They have common interests.
Nothing said was incriminating or even worthy of being taken to court. A Maseratti? So what? Where is the part where he says “if you get me a win I’ll get you a car”? It isn’t in there. Does anyone even know who it was for? The alleged recipient has already gone on the news and admitted he asked Moggi to find him a very specific car for a friend of his. The fact that Moggi works for FIAT owners (who own Ferrari/Maseratti) I’ll let you fill in the blanks.
Luciano selected 3 refs for FRIENDLY MATCHES where nothing was at stake. Lega rules to officiating are so rigid that even if Moggi gave his wife to Pairetto he couldn’t hand select a ref. There are limitations and regulations. If I am a resident of Lazio I could never ref a Roma or Lazio game for example. If I have officiated a Juve game in the last 2 months I can’t officiate another one. See there are guidelines that need to be respected and approved by…you guessed it Galliani. “Give us a good one” hardly implies “Give me a crooked one”. Who doesn’t want a good one? Besides, none of this had anything to do with Serie A so all the Milanistas who are claiming the scudetto should be handed over to them should pipe down. These were conversations revolving around friendlies and a Uefa match, a Uefa match that Juve tied wrongfully. See all Moggi ever did was complain about an incompetent official that annulled a legitimate Juventus goal. “Who the %&#@ did you send?” to which the response was; “he’s seen as one of the best” is not evidence of bribery but rather ranting and whining. Something we have grown accustomed to thanks to our friends in Milano. If Moggi did pay for that result I hope he kept the receipt.
The FIGC themselves, who launched the investigation, have already admitted there is nothing incriminating on the tapes. They initially began investigating because of the steroid accusation of last year. They found no evidence of steroid use (contrary to what the Anti-Juventino will have you think). What did they find? The desire for good officiating, an expensive watch for a talk show host, a car for a friend of a friend, and selection of refs for friendlies…hats off to these investigators. If the shoe was on the other foot none of this would be happening. Unfortunately for Moggi and Juve, thanks to the jealousy that surrounds them, they have already been condemned. Does anyone bat an eyelash at the obvious fact that the Milan VP runs the league? No, but two friends gossiping on a phone are grounds for trial when you work for Juve.
Once again though, the double standard is clear as day with regards to the media. Moggi has a good rapport with the man who selects referees? For crying out loud people, Galliani signs his paycheque and those of the referees too. Maybe not personally but they answer to him (within Italy). He is their superior. Who has more contact or influence than he does? Milan doesn’t need to corrupt…they run it period, and the media.
Look I am objective. I know that in a nation famous for its ability to corrupt government, media, police, etc. that sport should be no different. We are talking about the sport’s top dogs. Moratti, Moggi, Galliani, Sensi all have a lot of money, influence, and favourable positions and I’m sure that to an extent they flex their muscle and I am not saying any are totally guilty or that any are totally innocent but at the end of the day the game is decided on the field…otherwise why are we watching? The influence they yield is balanced in my opinion and the figures I posted in my last article confirmed the team similarities at the top of the table.
What baffles me is the immediate acceptance of the Milanista and the Interista of these allegations as if to say that their teams are totally in the clear. We’ve all seen numerous occasions where dubious calls have favoured others at the top of the table. Those occasions were always justified though, Kaka never dives nor Inzaghi, but every Juve free kick stemmed from a dive. Adriano’s indirect free kick should have counted yet Cordoba’s foul on Nedved was again a dive. Honestly, it is this inconsistency that has been bothering me for years. The part that irritates me the most is that now for years Interistas and Milanistas will have something else to bring up even if Moggi is found not guilty. Did they stop accusing Juve after the steroid attempt cleared the doctors? No, instead they said they bought the judge. It is inevitable. The Juve fan will never be able to celebrate because they are either losing or cheating. It is the ultimate lose lose.
The fundamental difference is in the fan base. I rarely hear Juve fans bring up occasions where another team is helped. No matter how much influence Galliani and Berlusconi had in 2004 no Juventino in my presence said they shouldn’t have that scudetto to their name and neither am I. That is how the season went. In my opinion, Milan may have experienced leniency but deserved the title no less. So why can’t they then be as humble now?
I doubt anything will come of this. The conversations just lacked any kind of criminal intent. The media got what it wanted though, they have once again put Italy’s favourite scapegoat on the front page. If Moggi is guilty I agree he should be dealt with. If so however I think the next phones to be tapped should be Moratti’s so that we can shed some light on why two handball goals were allowed to stand in the Coppa Italia semi finals last year which preceded their eventual triumph in the tournament. Maybe we could get some clarification as to why an obvious Trezeguet goal was disallowed in the Supercoppa which also saw Inter crowned ( I guess Luciano’s cell must have died before he could hand pick that ref). Let’s tap Sensi’s to find out how Roma avoided Serie C2 relegation after going bankrupt the way Fiorentina did. Then I say we tap Galliani’s phone so that we can find out why a staggering amount of offside goals in the 2003-3004 campaign were allowed to stand which saw Milan earn it’s 17th scudetto, or why certain Milan players were allowed to refuse mandatory drug tests this season, or why a Cambiasso goal in the Champion’s League quarter final was called back sparking a riot. Not that any of those headlines would ever get printed in Italy.
In all honesty I’m amazed at the Milanista/Interista attitude here. They should be ever so grateful that Juventus is in Serie A because for as long as they are, there will always be someone to serve as Italy’s lightning rod keeping other major influence teams relatively safe from the prying eyes and ears of the media. For all the potential steroid use and all of the dubious officiating in Italy, Juve is the only major Serie A squad to have to defend themselves in court regularly. Soon enough Juve will be able to add up all of their won trials and put another star on their jersey.
The last bone I want to pick is with Goal.com. Their inability (or lack of interest) with regards to the translating of Giraudo’s press conference has left a key fact in the dark (as of 6:00 p.m. eastern time May 5th it is not posted). Not only was the statement moving from a fan’s perspective but also illuminating as a major point was unveiled. Chief Attorney General Marcello Maddalena had full access to the tapes and after hearing ALL of it declared that there was nothing incriminating on them. No wrongdoing whatsoever was evident in the conversations (when heard entirely) and if anything proved the opposite. He stated that it was not court worthy material and that it would only serve the media’s desire to sensationalize rather than inform to go ahead with a trial. This however didn’t stop the “investigators” from selling their story to the press (in pieces) in what has been a successful attempt at misleading the public by omission. How strange that only very specific excerpts were printed and never a whole conversation. I for one hope it does go to court. Maybe a judge can finally silence the media and the Anti-Juventino. Like I said before, it won’t be long before we hear the next batch of accusations, lies, and excuses. Welcome to Serie A.
------------------------------
Well it didn’t take long did it? I concluded my last article by indicating that before long we would hear the next series of Anti-Juve sentiment. Low and behold, not a week after my article was posted, the next smear campaign against “La Vecchia Campionessa” has now infected every major football site on the web (though Goal.com was quickest off the mark in English! - Ed). Naturally the Anti-Juventino is in a state of ecstasy while the Juve fan has had his/her possible 29th scudetto celebration cut short even before it began. Once again I find myself at the water cooler at work being ridiculed by Premiership fans, Liga fans, hockey, baseball, and basketball fans over another episode of the most ridiculous soap opera in professional sport, Serie A.
What can I say? I suppose a lot needs to be considered when deciphering these, the latest in what seems to be a non-stop onslaught of claims. Things such as the source, their motivation, timing, and overall meaning seem to go over the heads of many who have already commented on this site. I however, am more cynical and opt to delve deeper. It is my instinct to doubt everything, especially the media, especially in Italy where I resided and where I was disgusted by the lack of objectivity in their right wing owned media (be it politics, economy, the war in Iraq, and now sport). I am going to move right past the obvious fact that a citizen’s right to privacy has been publicly raped (Luciano Moggi) and get right into what I feel the majority of readers are overlooking.
Where did this come from? The first thing that needs to be called into question is the credibility (or lack thereof) of the Italian media. While living in Italy one of my first realisations regarding the Italian print media is that there is little distinction between Newspaper and Tabloid in Italy. The average serious newspaper in Italy is no better than the average North American gossip column and holds very little weight outside of the boot. It is often criticized and quite transparent. Upon reading an average article the apparent position of the writers and editors are clear as day. Today’s headlines were no different. My question is; why does no one else see the agenda? The media is for the most part (not totally) run by the Royal Family of media communications. The same Royal Family that as of late ran the nation and to this day own the rival squad of the very team so often accused. This is a coincidence to everyone else? Frankly any “newspaper” that prints conversations acquired with no proof of incriminating evidence is no more than a trash rag. I’m not saying they made it up. The FIGC launched an investigation and wire taps were leaked to the media (right on the eve of another title despite being concluded in September of 2005…how strange). The way in which they reported it however was in a very accusing manner (I read them directly from la Gazzetta). No objectivity in a headline that reads “I Furbetti del Calcio”, “The Clever Minds of Football”, the word misleading here would be an understatement.
The power the media yields is also worth noting. The media controls what we read and how much we are entitled to know. No doubt media ethics are a foreign ideology in Italy but it needs to be acknowledged that the media have the potential to print what suits them and take whatever they need out of context in order to prove whatever they, the editors, or the owners/investors desire to prove. Among other problems, translation is key. I read both the Italian and English versions and have to say that from a literal stance it was accurate, but there is much symbolism in the Italian (or any language) that can be lost and or misinterpreted in translation. For example, “Mi raccomando” does not mean, “you know what I mean? This sounded as though Moggi was implying something sinister when in fact in Italy “mi raccomando” is a normal way of saying bye to someone. It is like saying, “take care of yourself”. This however is a minor detail. More important things need to be called into question.
Is it lost on everyone else that all these stories seem to surface precisely at the end of a season? Last year we heard the Serie B scandals, we heard the bankruptcies of the Capital Clubs. We heard of the steroid use, etc. etc. It all amounted to nothing (except for the Serie B scandal) but it kept sales up in the off-season. Remarkably, this is also coming at another crucial point. Juventus are in the height of a month long “silenzio stampa” which means Media Silence. No one else apparently has noticed that nearly every other time Juve have implemented this sort of media blackout some sort of claim has surfaced as a form of backlash. Cannavaro’s drug allegation, the prior steroid accusation, etc. all stemmed from media blackouts. Today is no different.
Let us set all of these other factors aside for a moment and assume the sources are credible, and that the media is impartial. Let us assume no other motives drove this to the front pages. Let us assume nothing was taken out of context and that the tapes are audible and clear. What was really said? Frankly, after reading everything posted I was disappointed. I was expecting an atomic bomb and what I read was nothing more than grown men bad mouthing colleagues, competitors, and superiors like old ladies. Granted it is embarrassing but certainly not incriminating. The only thing these tapes have proven is that Luciano is on good terms with UEFA and Lega delegates. Is this new? We’ve seen them sit together at games. We’ve seen Galliani and Berlusconi sit with them at games. These are all colleagues employed at the same Leagues. Luciano Moggi has been seen exiting Galliani’s office a number of times. Why wouldn’t he? They have common interests.
Nothing said was incriminating or even worthy of being taken to court. A Maseratti? So what? Where is the part where he says “if you get me a win I’ll get you a car”? It isn’t in there. Does anyone even know who it was for? The alleged recipient has already gone on the news and admitted he asked Moggi to find him a very specific car for a friend of his. The fact that Moggi works for FIAT owners (who own Ferrari/Maseratti) I’ll let you fill in the blanks.
Luciano selected 3 refs for FRIENDLY MATCHES where nothing was at stake. Lega rules to officiating are so rigid that even if Moggi gave his wife to Pairetto he couldn’t hand select a ref. There are limitations and regulations. If I am a resident of Lazio I could never ref a Roma or Lazio game for example. If I have officiated a Juve game in the last 2 months I can’t officiate another one. See there are guidelines that need to be respected and approved by…you guessed it Galliani. “Give us a good one” hardly implies “Give me a crooked one”. Who doesn’t want a good one? Besides, none of this had anything to do with Serie A so all the Milanistas who are claiming the scudetto should be handed over to them should pipe down. These were conversations revolving around friendlies and a Uefa match, a Uefa match that Juve tied wrongfully. See all Moggi ever did was complain about an incompetent official that annulled a legitimate Juventus goal. “Who the %&#@ did you send?” to which the response was; “he’s seen as one of the best” is not evidence of bribery but rather ranting and whining. Something we have grown accustomed to thanks to our friends in Milano. If Moggi did pay for that result I hope he kept the receipt.
The FIGC themselves, who launched the investigation, have already admitted there is nothing incriminating on the tapes. They initially began investigating because of the steroid accusation of last year. They found no evidence of steroid use (contrary to what the Anti-Juventino will have you think). What did they find? The desire for good officiating, an expensive watch for a talk show host, a car for a friend of a friend, and selection of refs for friendlies…hats off to these investigators. If the shoe was on the other foot none of this would be happening. Unfortunately for Moggi and Juve, thanks to the jealousy that surrounds them, they have already been condemned. Does anyone bat an eyelash at the obvious fact that the Milan VP runs the league? No, but two friends gossiping on a phone are grounds for trial when you work for Juve.
Once again though, the double standard is clear as day with regards to the media. Moggi has a good rapport with the man who selects referees? For crying out loud people, Galliani signs his paycheque and those of the referees too. Maybe not personally but they answer to him (within Italy). He is their superior. Who has more contact or influence than he does? Milan doesn’t need to corrupt…they run it period, and the media.
Look I am objective. I know that in a nation famous for its ability to corrupt government, media, police, etc. that sport should be no different. We are talking about the sport’s top dogs. Moratti, Moggi, Galliani, Sensi all have a lot of money, influence, and favourable positions and I’m sure that to an extent they flex their muscle and I am not saying any are totally guilty or that any are totally innocent but at the end of the day the game is decided on the field…otherwise why are we watching? The influence they yield is balanced in my opinion and the figures I posted in my last article confirmed the team similarities at the top of the table.
What baffles me is the immediate acceptance of the Milanista and the Interista of these allegations as if to say that their teams are totally in the clear. We’ve all seen numerous occasions where dubious calls have favoured others at the top of the table. Those occasions were always justified though, Kaka never dives nor Inzaghi, but every Juve free kick stemmed from a dive. Adriano’s indirect free kick should have counted yet Cordoba’s foul on Nedved was again a dive. Honestly, it is this inconsistency that has been bothering me for years. The part that irritates me the most is that now for years Interistas and Milanistas will have something else to bring up even if Moggi is found not guilty. Did they stop accusing Juve after the steroid attempt cleared the doctors? No, instead they said they bought the judge. It is inevitable. The Juve fan will never be able to celebrate because they are either losing or cheating. It is the ultimate lose lose.
The fundamental difference is in the fan base. I rarely hear Juve fans bring up occasions where another team is helped. No matter how much influence Galliani and Berlusconi had in 2004 no Juventino in my presence said they shouldn’t have that scudetto to their name and neither am I. That is how the season went. In my opinion, Milan may have experienced leniency but deserved the title no less. So why can’t they then be as humble now?
I doubt anything will come of this. The conversations just lacked any kind of criminal intent. The media got what it wanted though, they have once again put Italy’s favourite scapegoat on the front page. If Moggi is guilty I agree he should be dealt with. If so however I think the next phones to be tapped should be Moratti’s so that we can shed some light on why two handball goals were allowed to stand in the Coppa Italia semi finals last year which preceded their eventual triumph in the tournament. Maybe we could get some clarification as to why an obvious Trezeguet goal was disallowed in the Supercoppa which also saw Inter crowned ( I guess Luciano’s cell must have died before he could hand pick that ref). Let’s tap Sensi’s to find out how Roma avoided Serie C2 relegation after going bankrupt the way Fiorentina did. Then I say we tap Galliani’s phone so that we can find out why a staggering amount of offside goals in the 2003-3004 campaign were allowed to stand which saw Milan earn it’s 17th scudetto, or why certain Milan players were allowed to refuse mandatory drug tests this season, or why a Cambiasso goal in the Champion’s League quarter final was called back sparking a riot. Not that any of those headlines would ever get printed in Italy.
In all honesty I’m amazed at the Milanista/Interista attitude here. They should be ever so grateful that Juventus is in Serie A because for as long as they are, there will always be someone to serve as Italy’s lightning rod keeping other major influence teams relatively safe from the prying eyes and ears of the media. For all the potential steroid use and all of the dubious officiating in Italy, Juve is the only major Serie A squad to have to defend themselves in court regularly. Soon enough Juve will be able to add up all of their won trials and put another star on their jersey.
The last bone I want to pick is with Goal.com. Their inability (or lack of interest) with regards to the translating of Giraudo’s press conference has left a key fact in the dark (as of 6:00 p.m. eastern time May 5th it is not posted). Not only was the statement moving from a fan’s perspective but also illuminating as a major point was unveiled. Chief Attorney General Marcello Maddalena had full access to the tapes and after hearing ALL of it declared that there was nothing incriminating on them. No wrongdoing whatsoever was evident in the conversations (when heard entirely) and if anything proved the opposite. He stated that it was not court worthy material and that it would only serve the media’s desire to sensationalize rather than inform to go ahead with a trial. This however didn’t stop the “investigators” from selling their story to the press (in pieces) in what has been a successful attempt at misleading the public by omission. How strange that only very specific excerpts were printed and never a whole conversation. I for one hope it does go to court. Maybe a judge can finally silence the media and the Anti-Juventino. Like I said before, it won’t be long before we hear the next batch of accusations, lies, and excuses. Welcome to Serie A.
http://www.eurosport.com/football/serie-a/2006-2007/sport_sto948599.shtml
Striker Christian Vieri, currently a free-agent, has made a come-and-get-me plea to relegated Italian giants Juventus. The veteran was released by Sampdoria after spending just a month at the Genoese club over the summer and now the 33-year-old wants a return to his old stomping ground in Turin.
Vieri last wore the famous black and white of the bianconeri back in 1996, in the early days of what proved to be a glittering career in Italian, and Spanish, football.
His last port of call before the Sampdoria fiasco was in the principality of Monaco, where he picked up an injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.
Having signed for Samp, Vieri never turned up for pre-season training and had his contract rescinded, leading to rumours of retirement from the game.
It now seems that the former, Atlectico Madrid, Lazio, Inter and Milan player is willing to shelve that plan and make a comeback, if Juventus - another of his former clubs - will take him.
Juventus sporting director Alessio Secco is said to be willing to listen to the player's wishes, but there is no guarantee a deal will be made.
Striker Christian Vieri, currently a free-agent, has made a come-and-get-me plea to relegated Italian giants Juventus. The veteran was released by Sampdoria after spending just a month at the Genoese club over the summer and now the 33-year-old wants a return to his old stomping ground in Turin.
Vieri last wore the famous black and white of the bianconeri back in 1996, in the early days of what proved to be a glittering career in Italian, and Spanish, football.
His last port of call before the Sampdoria fiasco was in the principality of Monaco, where he picked up an injury that ruled him out of the World Cup.
Having signed for Samp, Vieri never turned up for pre-season training and had his contract rescinded, leading to rumours of retirement from the game.
It now seems that the former, Atlectico Madrid, Lazio, Inter and Milan player is willing to shelve that plan and make a comeback, if Juventus - another of his former clubs - will take him.
Juventus sporting director Alessio Secco is said to be willing to listen to the player's wishes, but there is no guarantee a deal will be made.
22/07/2006 21:27 Deven Alvares
Alessandro Del Piero - a name that means so much to Bianconerros all around the world. He is our pride and joy, our legendary captain, the servant, flagpole, and the symbol of our beloved Juve. There will never be another player like him for years to come.
Alex or Pinturrichio as he is affectionately known, made his debut for Juve in the early '90s. It goes back to 1993 when he was just 18 and he found himself in a team full of stars. The Divine Trinity, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli didn't make it any easier for a young Alex. But this didn't discourage him and he fought his way up the hard way and rightly deserves to be where he is today. The True Leader of a World Class team.
Talk about honours and what has Pinturrichio not won? Very little. The Champions League - the biggest prize in European club football when Juve triumphed against Ajax on penalties at Rome in 1996, the Intercontinental Cup in 1996 when Juve topped River Plate 1-0 in Tokyo, the Uefa Super Cup in 1996, 5 Scudettos in 1994/95, 1996/97, 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2002/03, the Italian Cup in 1994/95, 4 Italian Super Cups in 1995, 1997, 2002 and 2003, the Intertoto Cup in 1999 and the Italian Youth Championship in 1994 are the trophies he's helped Juve to bring to the trophy cabinet of the Delle Alpi. This proves what a team man he truly is. If that still doesn’t convince you of his greatness, here's a list of his individual awards. Under 21 European player of the year, Most Valuable Player of the Intercontinental final 96, Best Italian Player 1998, Best Overall player 1998, Uefa Champions League Top Scorer 1997 and 1998, Most Popular Italian Player, Most Charismatic Striker in Italy 2001, Uefa Champions League 10 Years Jubilee Poll Best Attacker, Best Goal Scorer of Juventus of all time when he scored the hat trick against Fiorentina at the Delle Alpi in the Italian Cup earlier this year. In his 13 year career in The black and white of La Vecchia Signora, he's scored 194 goals for the club.
Last season was one of the toughest at the Delle Alpi for Alex. Not only had he to win his place in the Azzurri squad for the World Cup in Germany, he had to put up with the humiliation of being left on the bench more often than not and had to play second fiddle to another forward 7 years his junior. Yes, the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Ajax in the summer of 2004 caused nothing but problems for Pinturrichio and jeopardised his starting place. Worse was that Don Fabio, who was then the coach of the Old Lady, until he ran out on them for Juve's European rivals Real Madrid a few weeks back seemed to prefer Ibrahimovic and used to favour him comparing him to Milan's Dutch Legend Van Basten who he bossed at his time at the San Siro.
Now comes the time when we Bianconerros need our players more than ever to get us out of this turmoil and what do they do? As we read in the headlines of various Italian football sites everyone except Buffon, Nedved and our captain of course wants to leave. These players should realise how much Juve did for them, pampered them, paid them their full wages and most importantly, if it wasn’t for the club, these players might not have been at Germany playing with their national sides competing for the biggest prize in World football. David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic got what they wanted, started almost every match at the expense of Del Piero and now they want to leave because they don't want to play in Serie B. It's very sad Juve signed these players in the first place because now we know that money is more important for them than their love for our beloved Juve.
Hats off to Pinturrichio for his commitment and loyalty to the club. Last season he had to come off the bench to play and this season in the 2nd division. What more can be said off him as a man and player. Arguably one of the greatest players both on and off the pitch in the world.
FORZA JUVE, FORZA DEL PIERO.
http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=98299
Alessandro Del Piero - a name that means so much to Bianconerros all around the world. He is our pride and joy, our legendary captain, the servant, flagpole, and the symbol of our beloved Juve. There will never be another player like him for years to come.
Alex or Pinturrichio as he is affectionately known, made his debut for Juve in the early '90s. It goes back to 1993 when he was just 18 and he found himself in a team full of stars. The Divine Trinity, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli didn't make it any easier for a young Alex. But this didn't discourage him and he fought his way up the hard way and rightly deserves to be where he is today. The True Leader of a World Class team.
Talk about honours and what has Pinturrichio not won? Very little. The Champions League - the biggest prize in European club football when Juve triumphed against Ajax on penalties at Rome in 1996, the Intercontinental Cup in 1996 when Juve topped River Plate 1-0 in Tokyo, the Uefa Super Cup in 1996, 5 Scudettos in 1994/95, 1996/97, 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2002/03, the Italian Cup in 1994/95, 4 Italian Super Cups in 1995, 1997, 2002 and 2003, the Intertoto Cup in 1999 and the Italian Youth Championship in 1994 are the trophies he's helped Juve to bring to the trophy cabinet of the Delle Alpi. This proves what a team man he truly is. If that still doesn’t convince you of his greatness, here's a list of his individual awards. Under 21 European player of the year, Most Valuable Player of the Intercontinental final 96, Best Italian Player 1998, Best Overall player 1998, Uefa Champions League Top Scorer 1997 and 1998, Most Popular Italian Player, Most Charismatic Striker in Italy 2001, Uefa Champions League 10 Years Jubilee Poll Best Attacker, Best Goal Scorer of Juventus of all time when he scored the hat trick against Fiorentina at the Delle Alpi in the Italian Cup earlier this year. In his 13 year career in The black and white of La Vecchia Signora, he's scored 194 goals for the club.
Last season was one of the toughest at the Delle Alpi for Alex. Not only had he to win his place in the Azzurri squad for the World Cup in Germany, he had to put up with the humiliation of being left on the bench more often than not and had to play second fiddle to another forward 7 years his junior. Yes, the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Ajax in the summer of 2004 caused nothing but problems for Pinturrichio and jeopardised his starting place. Worse was that Don Fabio, who was then the coach of the Old Lady, until he ran out on them for Juve's European rivals Real Madrid a few weeks back seemed to prefer Ibrahimovic and used to favour him comparing him to Milan's Dutch Legend Van Basten who he bossed at his time at the San Siro.
Now comes the time when we Bianconerros need our players more than ever to get us out of this turmoil and what do they do? As we read in the headlines of various Italian football sites everyone except Buffon, Nedved and our captain of course wants to leave. These players should realise how much Juve did for them, pampered them, paid them their full wages and most importantly, if it wasn’t for the club, these players might not have been at Germany playing with their national sides competing for the biggest prize in World football. David Trezeguet and Zlatan Ibrahimovic got what they wanted, started almost every match at the expense of Del Piero and now they want to leave because they don't want to play in Serie B. It's very sad Juve signed these players in the first place because now we know that money is more important for them than their love for our beloved Juve.
Hats off to Pinturrichio for his commitment and loyalty to the club. Last season he had to come off the bench to play and this season in the 2nd division. What more can be said off him as a man and player. Arguably one of the greatest players both on and off the pitch in the world.
FORZA JUVE, FORZA DEL PIERO.
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Where Next For The Old Lady? Ben Tanzer looks at what lies in store for Juventus over the summer, and points towards a very careful balance they must strike.
Where Next For The Old Lady?
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Juventus, the Old Lady of Italian football have all but wrapped up the 2006/2007 Serie B trophy. They have an almost unassailable 7 point lead over Napoli with 7 games to go.
However, it has been a strange situation that the Bianconeri find themselves in, for they play in Serie B for the first time with quite possibly the youngest and weakest squad they have had in recent history. With an unchanged squad, it would be difficult to imagine them coming close to winning the Serie A next season.
So that begets the question, 'what next'? How do Juventus rebuild? Must they be ruthless, or should they show faith and patience, perhaps at the cost of immediate glory? The circumstances and fortunes of the players tied to Juventus will be worth keeping an eye on!
In the goalkeeping department number one Gianluigi Buffon has been strongly linked to a move to either one of the Milan teams. If he went, then that would leave Antonio Mirante and Emanuele Belardi. Mirante would certainly benefit from being number 1 or being loaned out to another club, but the club would judge the former option as one too risky. This would mean that they would have to buy a keeper. Perhaps swap deal involving some cash could work, though there are other fish in the sea. Gigi looks keen to leave, and making good money might not hurt, as they can probably bring in two good player.
Defenders raise interesting questions. Legrottaglie? He has never really lived up to the promise he showed at Chievo, and will most likely leave the club again in the summer, maybe this time for good. Players like Kovac, Boumsong, Zebina, Chiellini and Balzaretti have safe, assured places in a Serie A Juventus. Birindelli, Piccolo, Tudor and Legrottaglie would most likely be bit-part players or could leave the club altogether.
Ajax defender Zdanek Grygera is also coming in over the summer, and he will make a classy and interesting addition to the Bianconeri defence. However, come Serie A, and Thuram, Cannavaro and Zambrotta will be missed. There will surely have to be at least one more 'world class' defender they will need to sign. That will mean another faithful servant finding himself on the outer!
There is a lack of depth in midfield and there will most likely be many 'comings' and 'goings'. Once again, Vieira and Emerson will be missed. Stars like Nedved, Zanetti, Camoranesi and Marchionni will most likely stay, although Camoranesi is linked with Inter and Nedved could consider retirement. Anchor man Matteo Paro has had a great season in Turin but he may not be considered good enough to continue doing his job for Juventus against the likes of Milan and Roma.
Youngsters like Marchisio and Luci will find themselves in the Primavera team or farmed out to smaller clubs for experience. Giuliano Giannichedda is an interesting case, he was originally signed it seems to be a squad player, but has had more of a role to play this season after the departures of Vieira and Emerson. In the summer Juve will most likely sign a central midfielder to make Giannichedda redundant yet again. The Torsten Frings deal seems to be just a matter of time, and he will almost certainly hold down one of the two midfield spots (that will more than take care of Emerson's departure).
But what that will also do is make competition intense for the second berth, not something Juve will be unhappy with as such, except in that managing the squad will be a problem. Hasan Salihamidzic is also on the way in the summer from Bayern Munich, and will step in for Mauro Camoranesi should he leave the Old Lady. Lastly, Ruben Olivera deserves a recall and another chance after playing this season with Sampdoria. But then again, so do many others!
Juve's attacking force will probably need the least maintenance. Del Piero is the standard bearer of Juventus and will certainly stay. Trezeguet might possibly leave but then again possibly not, while Bojinov will return to Fiorentina (and possibly move on from there too).
Raffaele Palladino deserves an opportunity to play for Juventus in the top flight so could possibly stay on as a youthful backup. Zalayeta could stay on yet again for Juventus, he is loyal yet he does not play often or score often. Guzman and Volpato will most likely be loaned out; it will be very unlikely that the two of them will put on Juventus colours in the first team in 2007-2008.
Fabrizio Miccoli MUST be recalled. He has been in good form for Benfica and he surely deserves another crack at the Serie A with a club of Juventus' stature. Recalling Miccoli will also be cheaper than buying a striker. Another Juventus owned striker in good form is Ascoli's Michele Paolucci. He should also be considered by Deschamps.
To sum up, if Trezeguet stays, then he will partner Del Piero, and Zalayeta/Palladino, Miccoli and one other forward (who will not cause problems if on the bench) will do. All three could also stay on. If he leaves, Juve will have little option but to go in for 'hit man' Luca Toni, or a striker capable of delivering 20-25 Serie A goals in a season.
And lastly, the coach, Didier Deschamps: they need to trust him! He is a good coach but he needs time to adjust to Juventus in Serie A – it is quite different from coaching in Ligue 1 or Serie B. Juve must not expect him to be like Capello or Lippi. He is a different type of man ,and a different type of coach. It will be, arguably, the trickiest decision they will have to make.
This summer is sure to be interesting, particularly watching how the Turin giants go about things. There could be a few shock exits, the don't count out them poaching the odd player from direct Serie A rivals either. They will need to have a firm hand, and yet, show sensitivity for those who have fought for the Bianconeri cause when others left them in the lurch. It will be a delicate balance to strike!
Ben Tanzer
Where Next For The Old Lady? Ben Tanzer looks at what lies in store for Juventus over the summer, and points towards a very careful balance they must strike.
Where Next For The Old Lady?
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Juventus, the Old Lady of Italian football have all but wrapped up the 2006/2007 Serie B trophy. They have an almost unassailable 7 point lead over Napoli with 7 games to go.
However, it has been a strange situation that the Bianconeri find themselves in, for they play in Serie B for the first time with quite possibly the youngest and weakest squad they have had in recent history. With an unchanged squad, it would be difficult to imagine them coming close to winning the Serie A next season.
So that begets the question, 'what next'? How do Juventus rebuild? Must they be ruthless, or should they show faith and patience, perhaps at the cost of immediate glory? The circumstances and fortunes of the players tied to Juventus will be worth keeping an eye on!
In the goalkeeping department number one Gianluigi Buffon has been strongly linked to a move to either one of the Milan teams. If he went, then that would leave Antonio Mirante and Emanuele Belardi. Mirante would certainly benefit from being number 1 or being loaned out to another club, but the club would judge the former option as one too risky. This would mean that they would have to buy a keeper. Perhaps swap deal involving some cash could work, though there are other fish in the sea. Gigi looks keen to leave, and making good money might not hurt, as they can probably bring in two good player.
Defenders raise interesting questions. Legrottaglie? He has never really lived up to the promise he showed at Chievo, and will most likely leave the club again in the summer, maybe this time for good. Players like Kovac, Boumsong, Zebina, Chiellini and Balzaretti have safe, assured places in a Serie A Juventus. Birindelli, Piccolo, Tudor and Legrottaglie would most likely be bit-part players or could leave the club altogether.
Ajax defender Zdanek Grygera is also coming in over the summer, and he will make a classy and interesting addition to the Bianconeri defence. However, come Serie A, and Thuram, Cannavaro and Zambrotta will be missed. There will surely have to be at least one more 'world class' defender they will need to sign. That will mean another faithful servant finding himself on the outer!
There is a lack of depth in midfield and there will most likely be many 'comings' and 'goings'. Once again, Vieira and Emerson will be missed. Stars like Nedved, Zanetti, Camoranesi and Marchionni will most likely stay, although Camoranesi is linked with Inter and Nedved could consider retirement. Anchor man Matteo Paro has had a great season in Turin but he may not be considered good enough to continue doing his job for Juventus against the likes of Milan and Roma.
Youngsters like Marchisio and Luci will find themselves in the Primavera team or farmed out to smaller clubs for experience. Giuliano Giannichedda is an interesting case, he was originally signed it seems to be a squad player, but has had more of a role to play this season after the departures of Vieira and Emerson. In the summer Juve will most likely sign a central midfielder to make Giannichedda redundant yet again. The Torsten Frings deal seems to be just a matter of time, and he will almost certainly hold down one of the two midfield spots (that will more than take care of Emerson's departure).
But what that will also do is make competition intense for the second berth, not something Juve will be unhappy with as such, except in that managing the squad will be a problem. Hasan Salihamidzic is also on the way in the summer from Bayern Munich, and will step in for Mauro Camoranesi should he leave the Old Lady. Lastly, Ruben Olivera deserves a recall and another chance after playing this season with Sampdoria. But then again, so do many others!
Juve's attacking force will probably need the least maintenance. Del Piero is the standard bearer of Juventus and will certainly stay. Trezeguet might possibly leave but then again possibly not, while Bojinov will return to Fiorentina (and possibly move on from there too).
Raffaele Palladino deserves an opportunity to play for Juventus in the top flight so could possibly stay on as a youthful backup. Zalayeta could stay on yet again for Juventus, he is loyal yet he does not play often or score often. Guzman and Volpato will most likely be loaned out; it will be very unlikely that the two of them will put on Juventus colours in the first team in 2007-2008.
Fabrizio Miccoli MUST be recalled. He has been in good form for Benfica and he surely deserves another crack at the Serie A with a club of Juventus' stature. Recalling Miccoli will also be cheaper than buying a striker. Another Juventus owned striker in good form is Ascoli's Michele Paolucci. He should also be considered by Deschamps.
To sum up, if Trezeguet stays, then he will partner Del Piero, and Zalayeta/Palladino, Miccoli and one other forward (who will not cause problems if on the bench) will do. All three could also stay on. If he leaves, Juve will have little option but to go in for 'hit man' Luca Toni, or a striker capable of delivering 20-25 Serie A goals in a season.
And lastly, the coach, Didier Deschamps: they need to trust him! He is a good coach but he needs time to adjust to Juventus in Serie A – it is quite different from coaching in Ligue 1 or Serie B. Juve must not expect him to be like Capello or Lippi. He is a different type of man ,and a different type of coach. It will be, arguably, the trickiest decision they will have to make.
This summer is sure to be interesting, particularly watching how the Turin giants go about things. There could be a few shock exits, the don't count out them poaching the odd player from direct Serie A rivals either. They will need to have a firm hand, and yet, show sensitivity for those who have fought for the Bianconeri cause when others left them in the lurch. It will be a delicate balance to strike!
Ben Tanzer
Again, Ed Vulliamy writes another great article briefing our season in Serie B in a nice way...The article was written in the beginning of April, but that doesn't make it obsolete ever...
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Alessandro Del Piero is smiling because he has just scored a hat-trick to put Juventus back where the club feel they belong: on top of the league. Except that this is Serie B - the country's second division - where, before this season, Juventus had never previously played in their 110-year history. The game, a 4-0 victory over lowly Piacenza last month, began another extraordinary week in an extraordinary season for Juventus.
Before the match at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, the fans on the two curve at either end of the ground had laid out their banners early, proclaiming the pride and history of Juventus: 'TRADIZIONE', 'FORZA ONORE'. Tradition and honour: these are the notions for which the club believes itself to stand but which were so shabbily betrayed by the influence-peddling antics of Luciano Moggi, the now departed and disgraced director general who used his contacts to manipulate football in Italy and even across Europe to Juventus's advantage.
No sooner had the Turin club claimed the Serie A title for the 29th time in May last year, than it was announced that they were under investigation for match fixing. Phone taps revealed that Moggi had tried to arrange the appointment of referees who would be favourable to his club. This was all part of his network of influence that extended to every level of the Italian game and up into the Champions League. Even television pundits were implicated for having suppressed discussion of controversial decisions that favoured the team. Juventus were stripped of both their 2005 and 2006 scudetti and relegated to Serie B.
The match against Piacenza began with a goal from David Trezeguet, a member of France's World Cup final team, to put the disgraced champions ahead after 33 seconds. There followed a sustained period in which Piacenza mounted sturdy resistance, as many teams have against Juventus this season. Then Del Piero struck.
Only six days later, however, he emerges from the locker room in a different mood, in a different place, having just captained his side to a 3-1 defeat, the second of the season, against Brescia.
Because of recent violence at Italian matches, the match is played on a neutral ground at Mantova, where, by odd coincidence, Juventus had suffered their first defeat of the season, to the home side in January. Mantova's Stadio Danilo Martelli is shabby: the roof of the single covered stand is upheld by rusting ironwork; flats and the local fire brigade headquarters overlook the pitch; the home fans sit on metal benches and the low-slung away end is concrete terracing. To complete Juventus's humiliation, they lose to a hat-trick by an obscure midfielder called Matteo Serafini, the first ever scored against the world's greatest goalkeeper, World Cup-winner Gigi Buffon.
But it is at scrappy grounds such as Mantova's that Juventus - still star-studded with World Cup veterans - must now play. It is at such grounds that the team they call La Vecchia Signora - The Grand Old Lady - must continue to win if they are to return to the summit of Italian and European football.
Alessandro Del Piero has made more than 500 appearances for Juventus, a club he joined as an 18-year-old in 1993. With more than 200 goals, he is the club's all-time leading scorer, and he is one of a breed of players that Aldo Cazzullo, co-author of a recent bestseller whose title translates as 'The Mystery of Turin', calls 'L'Uomo Juventus' - The Juventus Man: those who play for and never leave the club. It was Del Piero who lifted hearts when - with Juventus shamed and demoted - he announced that a gentleman never leaves a Grand Old Lady and pledged to stay come what may. 'Alex is our emblem,' says Alessio Secco, the club's sporting director. 'He was the first to commit last summer, and remains a case apart.'
For such a gladiator on the pitch, Del Piero is surprisingly small, and boyish in demeanour. 'I've got plenty of playing years left in me and I hope to spend them all here,' he says when we meet after the Piacenza game. 'I'll play for Juventus until I'm 40 if I can.' Reflecting on the season so far, he notes how 'for every team that plays us, it is the match of a lifetime. This has been our difficulty and it's not a simple situation, I have a bit of experience, and I understand that attitude.'
He will not be drawn into talk beyond the moment. 'We have many dreams, but the first has to be Serie A, and only that,' he says. 'That's what I stayed here to achieve, that's my promise to the Popolo Bianconero [the black-and-white people, as the fans are known after the club's colours]. Everyone in Serie A and the Champions League misses Juventus, but not as much as Juventus miss Serie A and the Champions League. However, let's not think about the future, because it would be unforgivable to repeat some of the errors we have made this season. Let's talk only about Serie B and our present situation. The club can plan what happens next year but we players have to focus only on a championship, which is not easy and will not be easy, as is demonstrated by every match.'
Tonight's victory followed a 5-0 thrashing of Crotone on 17 February. 'It's good to exult during a difficult period,' says Del Piero, 'two excellent games at home and two great victories. Let's hope it's the turning point for the final run - but this is a difficult and long season. We need to keep working as we are, in a spirit of humility and sacrifice.' Words essential to the Vecchia Signora's self-image.
Juventus are an institution perhaps without parallel in football. When the corruption scandal broke last year, it was like the fall of an Italian monarchy, with subjects across the nation, Europe, and the world. There is something called L'emozione Juve - the Juve emotion - and it is strong and profound. But rarely has it been so deeply felt and strenuously tested as in the aftermath of the corruption scandal, when Juventus were relegated. Everything the club stood for had been betrayed from within and yet there was still the need for pride. Last summer, Juventus looked at their wretched present but, above all, to their remarkable past.
Juventus - 'Youth' in Latin - were founded in November 1897 by a group of students from the D'Azeglio high school in Turin. Since that day, the club have dominated Italian football like no other, winning the league title, lo scudetto, a record 27 times (counting the removal of those two most recent championships). The names of the club's stars constitute a directory of what is greatest in football: Giampiero Boniperti, John Charles, Roberto Bettega, Julio Cesar, Marco Tardelli, Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Zbigniew Boniek, Dino Zoff, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Zinedine Zidane. Three of the stars of Italy's World Cup-winning team last year were Juventus players: Buffon, defender Fabio Cannavaro and Del Piero. (Where is Camo?:eyebrows: ) Then there were those playing for other countries at the tournament - Pavel Nedved and Emerson for the Czech Republic and Brazil respectively; Lilian Thuram and Trezeguet for France in the final, both of whom had been world champions in 1998.
Juventus's managers are world famous, too: men such as Giovanni Trapattoni, winner of six scudetti, and Marcello Lippi, master of the 'mental game' of football-as-chess, who won five of Juve's scudetti and masterminded the World Cup victory. And the club's owners, the Agnelli family, are part of Italy's modern aristocracy: their patriarch Giovanni Agnelli co-founded Fiat in 1899 and his grandson Gianni, who died in 2004, was a key political figure for decades, known simply as L'avvocato, the lawyer.
Juventus are the only major Italian club to have never changed hands: Fiat and the Agnellis still have a controlling share. 'To be Juventino is to have a sense of history and of time,' says Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, the current club president, in the trophy room of their elegant villa-headquarters. 'Last summer was not our best of times.'
'Turin without Italy would be more or less the same. But Italy without Turin would be very different,' Umberto Eco once wrote. Alongside its rival Milan, the city is the manufacturing powerhouse of northern Italy. And through the association with Fiat, Juventus, says Cobolli Gigli, 'are associated with the personality of Agnelli himself - who was a kind of prince in a country that has no monarchy, and hence the Juventus empire within Italy'.
Juventus are much more than the team of this elegant but gritty metropolis: they are a national and international institution and, oddly to an outsider, the team of il Mezzogiorno, of the south. The 1950s saw a mass migration from Sicily and the poor south of the country by those seeking work on the production lines at Fiat. For those migrants, the club became a point of belonging in a world far from home. (It is often said in Turin that a vero torinese - an indigenous citizen - supports not Juventus but Torino, the city's other team, who exist, bitterly and defiantly, in Juve's shadow, rather like Manchester City.) Accordingly, across Sicily and the south, every small town and thousands of villages founded a 'Juventus Club', where fans still gather every evening to chat and play cards as well as to watch on match days in front of the television. So Juventus became the emblem of both a hard-working industrial establishment and of those who crave a sense of belonging.
Then, of course, there was the Heysel disaster, when on 29 May 1985 rioting Liverpool fans brought about the death of 39 spectators, most of whom were Juve fans, as the two teams met in the European Cup final in Brussels. Those who died that night were not the Juventus ultrà, as the hardcore supporters are known; they were people who had come mostly in families from little Juve clubs across central and southern Italy, with tickets for the 'neutral' zone adjacent to the Liverpool section. People such as my friend Bruno Guarini from Puglia, who took his 21-year-old son Alberto to Belgium aboard a local Juve Club charter for his first ever Juventus game, as a reward for passing his dentistry exams, only to watch his boy crushed to death against a barrier.
Today, the team boast more than 28 million registered supporters in Europe (compared to 13 million for Manchester United), of whom 11 million live in Italy, one in six Italians. In Baghdad two years ago, I asked a bare-footed street urchin after yet another atrocity: 'What is your dream for the future of Iraq?' The response was: 'That I will play for Juventus.' He knew the team, players, scores and history, but when I asked how old he was, he said that he did not know.
Yet Juventus are as deeply despised as they are adored in Italy. If you are not for them you are invariably against them. Hatred of the club is based on envy mixed with contempt. It runs so deep that, driving through Italy after the carnage at Heysel, I once saw the words 'GRAZIE LIVERPOOL' daubed across motorway bridges around Rome and Florence. When the Moggi scandal broke last summer, a book was published (and sold well) called Dio Esiste, Juve in B (God Exists, Juve in Serie B). It is a collection of anti-Juventus jokes and slogans, such as: 'Meglio na vita in galera che Juventino per na sera' ('Better a life in jail than to be Juventino for an evening').
That Juve's disgrace coincided with Italy's victory in the World Cup - a team managed by a man who won five scudetti for Juventus and whose spine was made up of players from the club - made the emotion of the moment all the stranger: pride and shame, glory and punishment.
Guilty Juventus - their management purged - initially faced expulsion to Serie C. This was then changed to Serie B, with 17 points deducted. An appeal in October reduced the handicap to nine points, enabling the club's enemies to claim that even a 'clean' Juve could still pull favours in high places. That appeal came a month after the start of their adventure in Serie B and, early on, the publication of the league table each Monday morning showing Juventus at the bottom. But it was not all gloom. Pavel Nedved gave an interview early on in which he said that he had seldom enjoyed his football so much. Juventus were visiting towns where they had never before played and were more often than not being greeted as heroes as well as foes.
At the time of writing, Juve are top of Serie B and set for promotion, but it was no great glory to return with only a point from Rimini, Genoa, La Spezia, Bergamo, Naples, Vicenza and Albinoleffe. No great glory to draw 2-2 at home to Arezzo in December. After that draw, John Elkann, vice-president of Fiat and nephew of Gianni Agnelli, came to the team's training camp to encourage the players, only for them to travel to Mantova for their next match, the first after the winter break, and lose for the first time. The annus horribilis continued off the pitch as well as on it: just as former player and general manager Gianluca Pessotto, who was not implicated in the Moggi scandal but had tried to commit suicide during the World Cup by throwing himself out of an upstairs window, returned to work, two 17-year-old members of the youth team drowned at the bottom of an artificial lake at the training ground, after they went to retrieve a ball. The next first-team game was postponed as a mark of respect. Yet, despite these setbacks, Juventus had reached the top.
'We fell precipitously into Serie B,' says club president Cobolli Gigli when we meet. 'We were in free fall, heading for Serie C, public opinion against us. But we had good lawyers and Italy had won the World Cup, because of some of our players, and I think that is what saved us in the public eye. It is impossible for many opposition fans in Serie B not to see Buffon and Del Piero as great Italian champions. For sure, in places like Naples and Genoa, the hostility is as it has always been. But when we arrived in Crotone [in the far south] 60,000 people lined the streets to welcome us. Inside the ground, their supporters cheered their own team, but after 10 minutes they were all shouting "Gigi Buffon, jump with us", and he did. In Bergamo, out of a crowd of 20,000, 18,000 were cheering for Juventus.'
He continues: 'It is also different for the teams. We are filling their stadiums. The players know that to play Juventus is their stage, their big chance. Sky TV is watching, officials from the big clubs are watching. So they prepare, they concentrate, they play like they have never played before - as has been obvious from day one, when we drew at Rimini, completely unprepared for this.'
One evening I go along to Turin University, where Gigi Buffon is to receive a special award for services to Juventus and Italy. The main hall of the economics faculty is packed with excited students.
'Yes, I am a business student,' says Patrizia Caveri, closing her cosmetics purse, 'but I'd rather be a hostess at Juventus.' When the goalkeeper finally enters the auditorium, the students erupt with delight. When it is his turn to speak, Buffon, wearing a smart suit, says: 'I didn't expect this clamorous welcome. This is a university, and I thought you'd all be sitting quietly.'
He goes on to speak about the virtues of 'social order', 'the problems of violence' in society and 'the benefits of education', urging that 'the most important thing is to be a man'. After a dutiful reference to 'the ugly things that happened' last summer, he explains why he stayed on to play in Serie B. 'It was an instinctive decision. I didn't really need to think about it. It was a moment of difficulty for the club and it was unthinkable to leave. I feel better for having stayed. The club paid a price, individuals paid a price, and the players and supporters paid a price. It has been a case of starting from year zero and it has been extraordinary, with positive reactions, even from supporters of other teams all over the country. Of course, the World Cup made a difference. I'm Juventus's goalkeeper, but also Italy's, so a little piece of me belongs to everyone.'
When the students ask how long Buffon will remain at Juventus, he says: 'I get asked this 18 times a day. I'll say it again: I'm talking to the club, with whom I'll have an intense relationship whatever the decision.' Then he pours a drop of golden hope: 'I have a contract until 2011 and if they want to, the club can exercise their rights, and from my point of view, there's a will to stay.'
Later that evening, I speak to Buffon, his concentration intense. 'I stayed at Juventus because they were sent into B,' he says. 'If they'd stayed in A, I'd probably have gone to Milan. But for five years, Juventus has given me everything. They've even made me a world champion and I owe them a debt of conscience. Also, I've found a new enthusiasm in my game. I'm enjoying myself, I want to live day to day. The probability is that I'll stay at Juve so long as others remain around me and the team is competitive. In time, we will be a great team again, but in how many years, we don't know.'
On the edge of the city, in the shadow of the Alps, is a scrappy arraignment of high-rise blocks called Venaria, of which the Ristorante Lucio al Venaria is a focal point. And this Tuesday night, Lucio's is festooned and heaving: there are bottles of special Juventus Spumante wine, a huge Juventus cake, and flags adorn the walls. The occasion is a charity dinner to raise money for the Santa Anna children's hospital. There are hundreds of men and women here. Some 50 people have come by bus from Grenoble, telling jokes about the attitude in France to their Italian flags during the World Cup final. Many of the women are wearing black and white patterned mini-dresses, the team colours. There are also quite a few ragazzacci, naughty boys, with spiky hair and tattoos, for whom charity towards sick children is hardly the primary reason to be here. They are here to meet Pavel Nedved.
Every few decades, a foreigner emerges to become almost as deeply Juventino as the Italians, such as John Charles from Wales or Michel Platini from France. Today the most popular foreigner - the most integrated and loved - is the Czech Nedved. An intense and handsome man, with a distant stare, he is fanatically dedicated in training and works and works on his game, as if on some private quest for perfection. Even after the 4-0 defeat of Piacenza, he is still unhappy. 'I didn't enjoy it at all. I didn't feel close to the centre of the game, I didn't get enough of the ball,' he says, even though it was his pass that created Del Piero's crowning goal.
Nedved's season was interrupted by a five-game suspension following his sending-off in a match against Genoa. Returning before a friendly against AC Milan and the away game with Mantova, Nedved said: 'Milan doesn't matter. But Mantova matters a great deal - these are our new horizons. Writing off the handicap relieved the tension a little - at least after that we were playing for real points. But this is not last year's team. We are very good, with a few champions that the others don't have, but I wouldn't say that we are so very superior to the opposition in Serie B.'
He is unabashed about his commitment to the club and, at the age of 34, suggests that he might take up a coaching position at Juve before too long. While the understanding is that Buffon will stay if enough stars are signed to play with him, Nedved states plainly: 'I'm not going to say, "Juve must be strong or else I will leave". Why would I do that? I have a few years on the others, my home is here, my family doesn't want to leave and my children were born in Rome [he spent five seasons playing for Lazio] and grew up in Italy. Besides, I owe too much to Juventus to go anywhere else.'
Another training session ends at the 'Juventus Centre' in Vinovo, on the outskirts of Turin, against a background of snow-capped peaks reaching into a smoky-blue sky. Over the road is the Hippodrome for Trotto, Italy's brand of horse-and-cart racing, a small-time gambler's favourite outing.
It is impossible to see Buffon and Trezeguet bounce into the lounge after training without thinking of that moment in the World Cup final when they faced each other, and Trezeguet missed the penalty that made the Azzurri world champions. 'I remained with the club to help,' says Trezeguet, who is wearing a track suit and a baseball cap, 'and have adapted to Serie B. But it's taken me longer than the others to grasp the reality. It's a mental problem - I find it difficult to be stimulated on certain pitches with the crowd up close, after you've played at San Siro. The ground at La Spezia [on the coast south of Genoa] struck me especially - small, people on your back and a rotten pitch. I'd rather have written a different page, but Juve have suited me too well, teaching me that to be in second place is not good enough.'
Will he stay or will he go, especially as Liverpool and Lyon are said to be interested in signing him? 'I want to play in the Champions League again,' he says. In a recent interview with the daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, Trezeguet promised that 'my future is Bianconero', and that 'for me, what counts is the rapport with my colleagues'. Now, he adds: 'I was unhappy with the fact that I was not given the possibility conceded to the others who left. Last May we won the scudetto, now I have to pay for things that others have done.'
There is another world champion - like Trezeguet, of Argentinian stock - whose future at Juventus is uncertain: Mauro Camoranesi, who plays on the right side of midfield and wears his hair long and often in a ponytail. In the run-up to the Piacenza game, Italy's three leading daily sports papers unearthed an interview given by Camoranesi to an Argentinian paper in which he spoke of how, when he asked to leave, he was held as a 'prisoner of Juventus' last summer. For his outburst, Camoranesi was booed when he came on as a substitute against Piacenza, to his manager's and team-mates' annoyance.
In the present strange atmosphere, the board of Juventus tries to measure what the horizons are, in terms of money available, the team that can be built with it, over how long, and with what ambitions. While the golden trio of Del Piero, Buffon and Nedved insist that they can concentrate only on the 'work in progress', fans are already dreaming of winning back the scudetto. But club president Cobolli Gigli urges that 'it is presumptuous even to talk about a scudetto next season'. 'We can't overlook the sporting and financial damage caused by last summer,' he tells me. Coach Didier Deschamps, a former player with the club and France's 1998 World Cup-winning captain, believes it could take as long as 'three or four years' to build a team as good as last season's title winners.
The most obvious way for Juventus to rebuild is to welcome back some of those who departed last summer in the fire sale that followed relegation. Most of them - with the notable exception of Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Serie A leaders Internazionale - are having mediocre seasons, especially Emerson and Fabio Cannavaro at Real Madrid, and Gianluca Zambrotta at Barcelona. Some have said they would like to return, but it might not happen. La Vecchia Signora does not forgive easily and Cobolli Gigli thinks it 'not a good thing to invite back those who chose to leave'. Deschamps demands that 'two or three major acquisitions are necessary, both to rebuild the team and to convince Buffon and others to stay'.
The player that most interests the Juventus board is Steven Gerrard. Cobolli Gigli has said: 'Gerrard? I would go personally and fetch himself - on a bicycle.' In conversation, when asked about the Liverpool captain, Deschamps says, with a wry smile: 'If Gerrard wants to come, he'd be most welcome, but I think he would have a little trouble leaving where he is now.'
Away from football, there are local politics to play as the club head home to a refurbished Stadio delle Alpi after a temporary lease of the smaller Stadio Olimpico. There is a long-term 'industrial plan' whereby the club, wounded financially by the scandal, will seek to rebuild their team in stages. They even need to find another sponsor. The Libyan petroleum giant Tamoil - controlled by the ruling Gadaffi family, which owns 7.5 per cent of Juventus - has withdrawn its funding, leaving the probability that before long the word 'Fiat' may finally appear on the black-and-white zebra stripes of a Juventus shirt.
After a final closed training session before the match against Brescia on 10 March, Deschamps finds time to reflect on the season. He talks quietly and courteously, in Italian, with a sense of self-ironic humour rare in football. 'Serie B has been an adventure for all of us - for the players, for me, for the club. The thing is that for every team, and their fans, playing Juventus is the biggest game they'll ever play. I watch videos of each side before we play them, but when they come out on to the pitch against us, they are different footballers completely, running everywhere, playing every ball. It's a different league, in which Juventus cannot play their usual game. Serie B - and certainly the Serie B in which Juventus are playing - is not the setting for a spectacle. It's not a league in which a team like Juventus can express themselves.'
He uses the word agonismo, which broadly means a mix of pain, grit and competitive spirit. 'We've been adapting to a league that is more physical than tactical, in which agonismo is more important than tactics. Just because we are playing teams who are inferior to us doesn't mean we don't suffer. It's no coincidence that Buffon has often been the best player on the pitch. We've been chewing tough bread in Serie B. We needed quickly to put aside any sense of triumphalism, any idea that this would be a stroll for the good of our health.'
Deschamps is honest enough to concede that he was hired to return Juve to Serie A and that, if he fails, he will be sacked. 'I know that if we are not in Serie A in June, I will no longer be coach. That's normal and a fair decision. I took on this team knowing that was the condition, the starting point. And I've been putting forward my ideas, without feeling as though there was a gun pointed at my head.'
He operates inevitably in the shadow of Marcello Lippi, who was Juventus coach from 1994 to 1999 and, again, from 2001 to 2004, before taking charge of Italy. He talks often to Lippi, whom he considers to be 'the master technician'. There are rumours that Lippi, who did not seek to stay on with the national team after the World Cup triumph, will return to take charge of Juventus once they are back in Serie A; indeed, his long-standing right-hand man at Juve and at last year's World Cup, Narciso Pezzotti, recently returned to the club as an assistant coach.
Of the fans in Serie B, Deschamps says: 'Those who hate us will always hate us, but Juventus have fans all over the country, and many have had the chance to see us in places in which we've never played before. Even for the opposition, it's a bit of a festa when we arrive in town. Once the game starts, however, the party stops, as it does for the players we're up against, who play with everything they have.'
There is a fine line between caution and tempting fate, but perhaps even Deschamps could not have expected the disaster against Brescia, in Mantua, the next day. Most of the Juve fans left Turin by car early in the morning, but there are a few stragglers on the 9.05 train to Mantua, via Milan - a five-hour journey that costs less than £10.
At the ground, the police are ubiquitous. A man called Guido is turned away because his seven-year-old son, Fabio, is not carrying his identity card and two Juve fans are arrested for carrying a banner saying 'Liberty for the Ultras'. I meet Giuliano Grisero and his son, Ludovico, Brescia supporters excited by the prospect of seeing 'a glimpse of Buffon and Del Piero for real, after seeing them on television so many times, and in the World Cup'. Little Ludo's blue Brescia scarf matches that of his Italian national shirt, which has Del Piero's name on the back.
Inside, the atmosphere is boisterous. At one end, overlooked by the fire-brigade headquarters, the fans of Brescia and Mantova have massed, united for one game to sing 'Solo rubare, sapete solo rubare' - 'You only know how to steal' - to 'Guantanamera', the tune English fans use for 'You only sing when you're winning'. At the other end, the Juve supporters jeer two of their own players, Camoranesi and Trezeguet, singing: 'We don't want mercenaries.' They become more and more rabid as La Vecchia Signora is beaten by Serafini's improbable hat-trick. To my left, Fabrizio Poletto from Brescia looks on amazed: 'I don't get it; we don't usually play like this. Usually, we're awful.'
At the end, Brescia's players strip down to their underpants and throw their kit into the crowd - including their shorts. Later, Del Piero still manages to smile. 'Well, I'm never coming here again,' he says. 'Serafini? I'd never heard of him, but that first goal was like Maradona.'
A delighted Serafini says: 'It's been strange day for me and for Gigi Buffon. He's the greatest goalkeeper in the world and, actually, what I wanted from this game was to exchange shirts with him, but he'd already given it to someone else, a photographer I think.'
One of the fans on the train back to Turin, Giancarlo Maccabruni, eats his ham panino as the sun sets over Lombardy. He pleads with me: 'This is not Juventus, please don't call this Juventus. We lost, but we're still top, and - like Jesus - Juventus will rise again.'
By Ed Vulliamy
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Alessandro Del Piero is smiling because he has just scored a hat-trick to put Juventus back where the club feel they belong: on top of the league. Except that this is Serie B - the country's second division - where, before this season, Juventus had never previously played in their 110-year history. The game, a 4-0 victory over lowly Piacenza last month, began another extraordinary week in an extraordinary season for Juventus.
Before the match at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin, the fans on the two curve at either end of the ground had laid out their banners early, proclaiming the pride and history of Juventus: 'TRADIZIONE', 'FORZA ONORE'. Tradition and honour: these are the notions for which the club believes itself to stand but which were so shabbily betrayed by the influence-peddling antics of Luciano Moggi, the now departed and disgraced director general who used his contacts to manipulate football in Italy and even across Europe to Juventus's advantage.
No sooner had the Turin club claimed the Serie A title for the 29th time in May last year, than it was announced that they were under investigation for match fixing. Phone taps revealed that Moggi had tried to arrange the appointment of referees who would be favourable to his club. This was all part of his network of influence that extended to every level of the Italian game and up into the Champions League. Even television pundits were implicated for having suppressed discussion of controversial decisions that favoured the team. Juventus were stripped of both their 2005 and 2006 scudetti and relegated to Serie B.
The match against Piacenza began with a goal from David Trezeguet, a member of France's World Cup final team, to put the disgraced champions ahead after 33 seconds. There followed a sustained period in which Piacenza mounted sturdy resistance, as many teams have against Juventus this season. Then Del Piero struck.
Only six days later, however, he emerges from the locker room in a different mood, in a different place, having just captained his side to a 3-1 defeat, the second of the season, against Brescia.
Because of recent violence at Italian matches, the match is played on a neutral ground at Mantova, where, by odd coincidence, Juventus had suffered their first defeat of the season, to the home side in January. Mantova's Stadio Danilo Martelli is shabby: the roof of the single covered stand is upheld by rusting ironwork; flats and the local fire brigade headquarters overlook the pitch; the home fans sit on metal benches and the low-slung away end is concrete terracing. To complete Juventus's humiliation, they lose to a hat-trick by an obscure midfielder called Matteo Serafini, the first ever scored against the world's greatest goalkeeper, World Cup-winner Gigi Buffon.
But it is at scrappy grounds such as Mantova's that Juventus - still star-studded with World Cup veterans - must now play. It is at such grounds that the team they call La Vecchia Signora - The Grand Old Lady - must continue to win if they are to return to the summit of Italian and European football.
Alessandro Del Piero has made more than 500 appearances for Juventus, a club he joined as an 18-year-old in 1993. With more than 200 goals, he is the club's all-time leading scorer, and he is one of a breed of players that Aldo Cazzullo, co-author of a recent bestseller whose title translates as 'The Mystery of Turin', calls 'L'Uomo Juventus' - The Juventus Man: those who play for and never leave the club. It was Del Piero who lifted hearts when - with Juventus shamed and demoted - he announced that a gentleman never leaves a Grand Old Lady and pledged to stay come what may. 'Alex is our emblem,' says Alessio Secco, the club's sporting director. 'He was the first to commit last summer, and remains a case apart.'
For such a gladiator on the pitch, Del Piero is surprisingly small, and boyish in demeanour. 'I've got plenty of playing years left in me and I hope to spend them all here,' he says when we meet after the Piacenza game. 'I'll play for Juventus until I'm 40 if I can.' Reflecting on the season so far, he notes how 'for every team that plays us, it is the match of a lifetime. This has been our difficulty and it's not a simple situation, I have a bit of experience, and I understand that attitude.'
He will not be drawn into talk beyond the moment. 'We have many dreams, but the first has to be Serie A, and only that,' he says. 'That's what I stayed here to achieve, that's my promise to the Popolo Bianconero [the black-and-white people, as the fans are known after the club's colours]. Everyone in Serie A and the Champions League misses Juventus, but not as much as Juventus miss Serie A and the Champions League. However, let's not think about the future, because it would be unforgivable to repeat some of the errors we have made this season. Let's talk only about Serie B and our present situation. The club can plan what happens next year but we players have to focus only on a championship, which is not easy and will not be easy, as is demonstrated by every match.'
Tonight's victory followed a 5-0 thrashing of Crotone on 17 February. 'It's good to exult during a difficult period,' says Del Piero, 'two excellent games at home and two great victories. Let's hope it's the turning point for the final run - but this is a difficult and long season. We need to keep working as we are, in a spirit of humility and sacrifice.' Words essential to the Vecchia Signora's self-image.
Juventus are an institution perhaps without parallel in football. When the corruption scandal broke last year, it was like the fall of an Italian monarchy, with subjects across the nation, Europe, and the world. There is something called L'emozione Juve - the Juve emotion - and it is strong and profound. But rarely has it been so deeply felt and strenuously tested as in the aftermath of the corruption scandal, when Juventus were relegated. Everything the club stood for had been betrayed from within and yet there was still the need for pride. Last summer, Juventus looked at their wretched present but, above all, to their remarkable past.
Juventus - 'Youth' in Latin - were founded in November 1897 by a group of students from the D'Azeglio high school in Turin. Since that day, the club have dominated Italian football like no other, winning the league title, lo scudetto, a record 27 times (counting the removal of those two most recent championships). The names of the club's stars constitute a directory of what is greatest in football: Giampiero Boniperti, John Charles, Roberto Bettega, Julio Cesar, Marco Tardelli, Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Zbigniew Boniek, Dino Zoff, Roberto Baggio, Gianluca Vialli and Zinedine Zidane. Three of the stars of Italy's World Cup-winning team last year were Juventus players: Buffon, defender Fabio Cannavaro and Del Piero. (Where is Camo?:eyebrows: ) Then there were those playing for other countries at the tournament - Pavel Nedved and Emerson for the Czech Republic and Brazil respectively; Lilian Thuram and Trezeguet for France in the final, both of whom had been world champions in 1998.
Juventus's managers are world famous, too: men such as Giovanni Trapattoni, winner of six scudetti, and Marcello Lippi, master of the 'mental game' of football-as-chess, who won five of Juve's scudetti and masterminded the World Cup victory. And the club's owners, the Agnelli family, are part of Italy's modern aristocracy: their patriarch Giovanni Agnelli co-founded Fiat in 1899 and his grandson Gianni, who died in 2004, was a key political figure for decades, known simply as L'avvocato, the lawyer.
Juventus are the only major Italian club to have never changed hands: Fiat and the Agnellis still have a controlling share. 'To be Juventino is to have a sense of history and of time,' says Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, the current club president, in the trophy room of their elegant villa-headquarters. 'Last summer was not our best of times.'
'Turin without Italy would be more or less the same. But Italy without Turin would be very different,' Umberto Eco once wrote. Alongside its rival Milan, the city is the manufacturing powerhouse of northern Italy. And through the association with Fiat, Juventus, says Cobolli Gigli, 'are associated with the personality of Agnelli himself - who was a kind of prince in a country that has no monarchy, and hence the Juventus empire within Italy'.
Juventus are much more than the team of this elegant but gritty metropolis: they are a national and international institution and, oddly to an outsider, the team of il Mezzogiorno, of the south. The 1950s saw a mass migration from Sicily and the poor south of the country by those seeking work on the production lines at Fiat. For those migrants, the club became a point of belonging in a world far from home. (It is often said in Turin that a vero torinese - an indigenous citizen - supports not Juventus but Torino, the city's other team, who exist, bitterly and defiantly, in Juve's shadow, rather like Manchester City.) Accordingly, across Sicily and the south, every small town and thousands of villages founded a 'Juventus Club', where fans still gather every evening to chat and play cards as well as to watch on match days in front of the television. So Juventus became the emblem of both a hard-working industrial establishment and of those who crave a sense of belonging.
Then, of course, there was the Heysel disaster, when on 29 May 1985 rioting Liverpool fans brought about the death of 39 spectators, most of whom were Juve fans, as the two teams met in the European Cup final in Brussels. Those who died that night were not the Juventus ultrà, as the hardcore supporters are known; they were people who had come mostly in families from little Juve clubs across central and southern Italy, with tickets for the 'neutral' zone adjacent to the Liverpool section. People such as my friend Bruno Guarini from Puglia, who took his 21-year-old son Alberto to Belgium aboard a local Juve Club charter for his first ever Juventus game, as a reward for passing his dentistry exams, only to watch his boy crushed to death against a barrier.
Today, the team boast more than 28 million registered supporters in Europe (compared to 13 million for Manchester United), of whom 11 million live in Italy, one in six Italians. In Baghdad two years ago, I asked a bare-footed street urchin after yet another atrocity: 'What is your dream for the future of Iraq?' The response was: 'That I will play for Juventus.' He knew the team, players, scores and history, but when I asked how old he was, he said that he did not know.
Yet Juventus are as deeply despised as they are adored in Italy. If you are not for them you are invariably against them. Hatred of the club is based on envy mixed with contempt. It runs so deep that, driving through Italy after the carnage at Heysel, I once saw the words 'GRAZIE LIVERPOOL' daubed across motorway bridges around Rome and Florence. When the Moggi scandal broke last summer, a book was published (and sold well) called Dio Esiste, Juve in B (God Exists, Juve in Serie B). It is a collection of anti-Juventus jokes and slogans, such as: 'Meglio na vita in galera che Juventino per na sera' ('Better a life in jail than to be Juventino for an evening').
That Juve's disgrace coincided with Italy's victory in the World Cup - a team managed by a man who won five scudetti for Juventus and whose spine was made up of players from the club - made the emotion of the moment all the stranger: pride and shame, glory and punishment.
Guilty Juventus - their management purged - initially faced expulsion to Serie C. This was then changed to Serie B, with 17 points deducted. An appeal in October reduced the handicap to nine points, enabling the club's enemies to claim that even a 'clean' Juve could still pull favours in high places. That appeal came a month after the start of their adventure in Serie B and, early on, the publication of the league table each Monday morning showing Juventus at the bottom. But it was not all gloom. Pavel Nedved gave an interview early on in which he said that he had seldom enjoyed his football so much. Juventus were visiting towns where they had never before played and were more often than not being greeted as heroes as well as foes.
At the time of writing, Juve are top of Serie B and set for promotion, but it was no great glory to return with only a point from Rimini, Genoa, La Spezia, Bergamo, Naples, Vicenza and Albinoleffe. No great glory to draw 2-2 at home to Arezzo in December. After that draw, John Elkann, vice-president of Fiat and nephew of Gianni Agnelli, came to the team's training camp to encourage the players, only for them to travel to Mantova for their next match, the first after the winter break, and lose for the first time. The annus horribilis continued off the pitch as well as on it: just as former player and general manager Gianluca Pessotto, who was not implicated in the Moggi scandal but had tried to commit suicide during the World Cup by throwing himself out of an upstairs window, returned to work, two 17-year-old members of the youth team drowned at the bottom of an artificial lake at the training ground, after they went to retrieve a ball. The next first-team game was postponed as a mark of respect. Yet, despite these setbacks, Juventus had reached the top.
'We fell precipitously into Serie B,' says club president Cobolli Gigli when we meet. 'We were in free fall, heading for Serie C, public opinion against us. But we had good lawyers and Italy had won the World Cup, because of some of our players, and I think that is what saved us in the public eye. It is impossible for many opposition fans in Serie B not to see Buffon and Del Piero as great Italian champions. For sure, in places like Naples and Genoa, the hostility is as it has always been. But when we arrived in Crotone [in the far south] 60,000 people lined the streets to welcome us. Inside the ground, their supporters cheered their own team, but after 10 minutes they were all shouting "Gigi Buffon, jump with us", and he did. In Bergamo, out of a crowd of 20,000, 18,000 were cheering for Juventus.'
He continues: 'It is also different for the teams. We are filling their stadiums. The players know that to play Juventus is their stage, their big chance. Sky TV is watching, officials from the big clubs are watching. So they prepare, they concentrate, they play like they have never played before - as has been obvious from day one, when we drew at Rimini, completely unprepared for this.'
One evening I go along to Turin University, where Gigi Buffon is to receive a special award for services to Juventus and Italy. The main hall of the economics faculty is packed with excited students.
'Yes, I am a business student,' says Patrizia Caveri, closing her cosmetics purse, 'but I'd rather be a hostess at Juventus.' When the goalkeeper finally enters the auditorium, the students erupt with delight. When it is his turn to speak, Buffon, wearing a smart suit, says: 'I didn't expect this clamorous welcome. This is a university, and I thought you'd all be sitting quietly.'
He goes on to speak about the virtues of 'social order', 'the problems of violence' in society and 'the benefits of education', urging that 'the most important thing is to be a man'. After a dutiful reference to 'the ugly things that happened' last summer, he explains why he stayed on to play in Serie B. 'It was an instinctive decision. I didn't really need to think about it. It was a moment of difficulty for the club and it was unthinkable to leave. I feel better for having stayed. The club paid a price, individuals paid a price, and the players and supporters paid a price. It has been a case of starting from year zero and it has been extraordinary, with positive reactions, even from supporters of other teams all over the country. Of course, the World Cup made a difference. I'm Juventus's goalkeeper, but also Italy's, so a little piece of me belongs to everyone.'
When the students ask how long Buffon will remain at Juventus, he says: 'I get asked this 18 times a day. I'll say it again: I'm talking to the club, with whom I'll have an intense relationship whatever the decision.' Then he pours a drop of golden hope: 'I have a contract until 2011 and if they want to, the club can exercise their rights, and from my point of view, there's a will to stay.'
Later that evening, I speak to Buffon, his concentration intense. 'I stayed at Juventus because they were sent into B,' he says. 'If they'd stayed in A, I'd probably have gone to Milan. But for five years, Juventus has given me everything. They've even made me a world champion and I owe them a debt of conscience. Also, I've found a new enthusiasm in my game. I'm enjoying myself, I want to live day to day. The probability is that I'll stay at Juve so long as others remain around me and the team is competitive. In time, we will be a great team again, but in how many years, we don't know.'
On the edge of the city, in the shadow of the Alps, is a scrappy arraignment of high-rise blocks called Venaria, of which the Ristorante Lucio al Venaria is a focal point. And this Tuesday night, Lucio's is festooned and heaving: there are bottles of special Juventus Spumante wine, a huge Juventus cake, and flags adorn the walls. The occasion is a charity dinner to raise money for the Santa Anna children's hospital. There are hundreds of men and women here. Some 50 people have come by bus from Grenoble, telling jokes about the attitude in France to their Italian flags during the World Cup final. Many of the women are wearing black and white patterned mini-dresses, the team colours. There are also quite a few ragazzacci, naughty boys, with spiky hair and tattoos, for whom charity towards sick children is hardly the primary reason to be here. They are here to meet Pavel Nedved.
Every few decades, a foreigner emerges to become almost as deeply Juventino as the Italians, such as John Charles from Wales or Michel Platini from France. Today the most popular foreigner - the most integrated and loved - is the Czech Nedved. An intense and handsome man, with a distant stare, he is fanatically dedicated in training and works and works on his game, as if on some private quest for perfection. Even after the 4-0 defeat of Piacenza, he is still unhappy. 'I didn't enjoy it at all. I didn't feel close to the centre of the game, I didn't get enough of the ball,' he says, even though it was his pass that created Del Piero's crowning goal.
Nedved's season was interrupted by a five-game suspension following his sending-off in a match against Genoa. Returning before a friendly against AC Milan and the away game with Mantova, Nedved said: 'Milan doesn't matter. But Mantova matters a great deal - these are our new horizons. Writing off the handicap relieved the tension a little - at least after that we were playing for real points. But this is not last year's team. We are very good, with a few champions that the others don't have, but I wouldn't say that we are so very superior to the opposition in Serie B.'
He is unabashed about his commitment to the club and, at the age of 34, suggests that he might take up a coaching position at Juve before too long. While the understanding is that Buffon will stay if enough stars are signed to play with him, Nedved states plainly: 'I'm not going to say, "Juve must be strong or else I will leave". Why would I do that? I have a few years on the others, my home is here, my family doesn't want to leave and my children were born in Rome [he spent five seasons playing for Lazio] and grew up in Italy. Besides, I owe too much to Juventus to go anywhere else.'
Another training session ends at the 'Juventus Centre' in Vinovo, on the outskirts of Turin, against a background of snow-capped peaks reaching into a smoky-blue sky. Over the road is the Hippodrome for Trotto, Italy's brand of horse-and-cart racing, a small-time gambler's favourite outing.
It is impossible to see Buffon and Trezeguet bounce into the lounge after training without thinking of that moment in the World Cup final when they faced each other, and Trezeguet missed the penalty that made the Azzurri world champions. 'I remained with the club to help,' says Trezeguet, who is wearing a track suit and a baseball cap, 'and have adapted to Serie B. But it's taken me longer than the others to grasp the reality. It's a mental problem - I find it difficult to be stimulated on certain pitches with the crowd up close, after you've played at San Siro. The ground at La Spezia [on the coast south of Genoa] struck me especially - small, people on your back and a rotten pitch. I'd rather have written a different page, but Juve have suited me too well, teaching me that to be in second place is not good enough.'
Will he stay or will he go, especially as Liverpool and Lyon are said to be interested in signing him? 'I want to play in the Champions League again,' he says. In a recent interview with the daily newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, Trezeguet promised that 'my future is Bianconero', and that 'for me, what counts is the rapport with my colleagues'. Now, he adds: 'I was unhappy with the fact that I was not given the possibility conceded to the others who left. Last May we won the scudetto, now I have to pay for things that others have done.'
There is another world champion - like Trezeguet, of Argentinian stock - whose future at Juventus is uncertain: Mauro Camoranesi, who plays on the right side of midfield and wears his hair long and often in a ponytail. In the run-up to the Piacenza game, Italy's three leading daily sports papers unearthed an interview given by Camoranesi to an Argentinian paper in which he spoke of how, when he asked to leave, he was held as a 'prisoner of Juventus' last summer. For his outburst, Camoranesi was booed when he came on as a substitute against Piacenza, to his manager's and team-mates' annoyance.
In the present strange atmosphere, the board of Juventus tries to measure what the horizons are, in terms of money available, the team that can be built with it, over how long, and with what ambitions. While the golden trio of Del Piero, Buffon and Nedved insist that they can concentrate only on the 'work in progress', fans are already dreaming of winning back the scudetto. But club president Cobolli Gigli urges that 'it is presumptuous even to talk about a scudetto next season'. 'We can't overlook the sporting and financial damage caused by last summer,' he tells me. Coach Didier Deschamps, a former player with the club and France's 1998 World Cup-winning captain, believes it could take as long as 'three or four years' to build a team as good as last season's title winners.
The most obvious way for Juventus to rebuild is to welcome back some of those who departed last summer in the fire sale that followed relegation. Most of them - with the notable exception of Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Serie A leaders Internazionale - are having mediocre seasons, especially Emerson and Fabio Cannavaro at Real Madrid, and Gianluca Zambrotta at Barcelona. Some have said they would like to return, but it might not happen. La Vecchia Signora does not forgive easily and Cobolli Gigli thinks it 'not a good thing to invite back those who chose to leave'. Deschamps demands that 'two or three major acquisitions are necessary, both to rebuild the team and to convince Buffon and others to stay'.
The player that most interests the Juventus board is Steven Gerrard. Cobolli Gigli has said: 'Gerrard? I would go personally and fetch himself - on a bicycle.' In conversation, when asked about the Liverpool captain, Deschamps says, with a wry smile: 'If Gerrard wants to come, he'd be most welcome, but I think he would have a little trouble leaving where he is now.'
Away from football, there are local politics to play as the club head home to a refurbished Stadio delle Alpi after a temporary lease of the smaller Stadio Olimpico. There is a long-term 'industrial plan' whereby the club, wounded financially by the scandal, will seek to rebuild their team in stages. They even need to find another sponsor. The Libyan petroleum giant Tamoil - controlled by the ruling Gadaffi family, which owns 7.5 per cent of Juventus - has withdrawn its funding, leaving the probability that before long the word 'Fiat' may finally appear on the black-and-white zebra stripes of a Juventus shirt.
After a final closed training session before the match against Brescia on 10 March, Deschamps finds time to reflect on the season. He talks quietly and courteously, in Italian, with a sense of self-ironic humour rare in football. 'Serie B has been an adventure for all of us - for the players, for me, for the club. The thing is that for every team, and their fans, playing Juventus is the biggest game they'll ever play. I watch videos of each side before we play them, but when they come out on to the pitch against us, they are different footballers completely, running everywhere, playing every ball. It's a different league, in which Juventus cannot play their usual game. Serie B - and certainly the Serie B in which Juventus are playing - is not the setting for a spectacle. It's not a league in which a team like Juventus can express themselves.'
He uses the word agonismo, which broadly means a mix of pain, grit and competitive spirit. 'We've been adapting to a league that is more physical than tactical, in which agonismo is more important than tactics. Just because we are playing teams who are inferior to us doesn't mean we don't suffer. It's no coincidence that Buffon has often been the best player on the pitch. We've been chewing tough bread in Serie B. We needed quickly to put aside any sense of triumphalism, any idea that this would be a stroll for the good of our health.'
Deschamps is honest enough to concede that he was hired to return Juve to Serie A and that, if he fails, he will be sacked. 'I know that if we are not in Serie A in June, I will no longer be coach. That's normal and a fair decision. I took on this team knowing that was the condition, the starting point. And I've been putting forward my ideas, without feeling as though there was a gun pointed at my head.'
He operates inevitably in the shadow of Marcello Lippi, who was Juventus coach from 1994 to 1999 and, again, from 2001 to 2004, before taking charge of Italy. He talks often to Lippi, whom he considers to be 'the master technician'. There are rumours that Lippi, who did not seek to stay on with the national team after the World Cup triumph, will return to take charge of Juventus once they are back in Serie A; indeed, his long-standing right-hand man at Juve and at last year's World Cup, Narciso Pezzotti, recently returned to the club as an assistant coach.
Of the fans in Serie B, Deschamps says: 'Those who hate us will always hate us, but Juventus have fans all over the country, and many have had the chance to see us in places in which we've never played before. Even for the opposition, it's a bit of a festa when we arrive in town. Once the game starts, however, the party stops, as it does for the players we're up against, who play with everything they have.'
There is a fine line between caution and tempting fate, but perhaps even Deschamps could not have expected the disaster against Brescia, in Mantua, the next day. Most of the Juve fans left Turin by car early in the morning, but there are a few stragglers on the 9.05 train to Mantua, via Milan - a five-hour journey that costs less than £10.
At the ground, the police are ubiquitous. A man called Guido is turned away because his seven-year-old son, Fabio, is not carrying his identity card and two Juve fans are arrested for carrying a banner saying 'Liberty for the Ultras'. I meet Giuliano Grisero and his son, Ludovico, Brescia supporters excited by the prospect of seeing 'a glimpse of Buffon and Del Piero for real, after seeing them on television so many times, and in the World Cup'. Little Ludo's blue Brescia scarf matches that of his Italian national shirt, which has Del Piero's name on the back.
Inside, the atmosphere is boisterous. At one end, overlooked by the fire-brigade headquarters, the fans of Brescia and Mantova have massed, united for one game to sing 'Solo rubare, sapete solo rubare' - 'You only know how to steal' - to 'Guantanamera', the tune English fans use for 'You only sing when you're winning'. At the other end, the Juve supporters jeer two of their own players, Camoranesi and Trezeguet, singing: 'We don't want mercenaries.' They become more and more rabid as La Vecchia Signora is beaten by Serafini's improbable hat-trick. To my left, Fabrizio Poletto from Brescia looks on amazed: 'I don't get it; we don't usually play like this. Usually, we're awful.'
At the end, Brescia's players strip down to their underpants and throw their kit into the crowd - including their shorts. Later, Del Piero still manages to smile. 'Well, I'm never coming here again,' he says. 'Serafini? I'd never heard of him, but that first goal was like Maradona.'
A delighted Serafini says: 'It's been strange day for me and for Gigi Buffon. He's the greatest goalkeeper in the world and, actually, what I wanted from this game was to exchange shirts with him, but he'd already given it to someone else, a photographer I think.'
One of the fans on the train back to Turin, Giancarlo Maccabruni, eats his ham panino as the sun sets over Lombardy. He pleads with me: 'This is not Juventus, please don't call this Juventus. We lost, but we're still top, and - like Jesus - Juventus will rise again.'
By Ed Vulliamy
As Italian football awaits the results of a corruption inquiry into several of its leading clubs, including Turin superclub Juventus, I'll recall being seduced by the 'Old Lady' as a youth.
For those of us who have loved Juventus, the "Vecchia Signora" - the "Old Lady" - of Italian football since we were young, "l'emozione Juve" - the Juventus emotion - cut like a rip tide beneath Sunday's game, "la finalissima".
It was a feeling that entwined leonine pride with intense pain, as the Juventino captain, Fabio "Gladiatore" Cannavaro, lifted what felt like the world itself, distilled into a piece of gold, which he actually slept with that night, alongside his son, Christian, to honour a promise kept to the boy.
Cannavaro, like three of the other four Juventus players that won the World Cup, is now packing his bags, preparing to join the diaspora of Juventus players who will now scatter across the constellation of European football, as Juventus shatters and implodes (in his case, probably Real Madrid, along with former Juventus manager Fabio Capello and team mate, Gianluca Zambrotta).
Supporting the club, whose middle name is pride, now entails another sentiment - shame - as Juventus awaits the verdict, tomorrow night, on the hurricane of scandal, which centres on La Vecchia Signora, also taking in Lazio, Fiorentina and archrivals AC Milan.
Milan is less likely to be sentenced to punitive relegation than Juventus, but its players are also catching the eye of those who write the cheques in Spanish and English club football. So when Italy plays its next game, as world champions, it will do so having lost the distinction - as it had in Germany - of being the only country in this championship (apart from Saudi Arabia), and most of its predecessors since 1930, fielding a team in which every player served a domestic club.
"Gli Azzurri" will become like all the others - globalised, a strong and painful 'emozione Italiana' as well as an 'emozione Juve'.
Most obviously, l'emozione Juve on Sunday night and throughout the week starts with the fact that the architect of victory in Berlin, coach Marcello Lippi, who resigned yesterday, had won five Scudetto championships for Juventus.
But while training this victorious national side, Lippi's son was put under criminal investigation for financial corruption and even 'physical menace' as part of the scandal.
While the Azzurri prepared in Florence, the scandal, centred on Juventus, was breaking over Lippi's head.
During training, barely any journalists asked about the upcoming World Cup, it was all about "piedi puliti" - clean feet - so-called because the prosecutor in charge of the case, Judge Borelli, also led the "mani puliti" - clean hands - investigation into political corruption during the early 1990s.
A million fans may have hailed the team in the Circus Maximus on Monday, but seven weeks ago in Florence, they came to jeer. 'Champions or prostitutes?" read the graffiti. Lippi told me back then that he had two jobs to do, one as a football coach, the other as a psychiatrist.
Duly, the players tried to concentrate on their game, while the grey-suited "pezzi grossi" - big pieces - in the boardrooms at both Juve and Milan hurled insults at each other from their respective towers.
But on the ground Italy's captain, Cannavaro, assured us that the team would train and play as one, focused only on the task in hand - victory in the tournament and to be ambassadors for real Italian football.
As did the rest of the squad, which was primarily made up of players from Juve and Milan, two of the big clubs in the firing line. If only the managerial high command had the maturity, professionalism and discipline of the artisans themselves.
And indeed, the idea was planted during training, as I wrote at the time, that the scandal might actually focus and sting the Azzurri into winning, not flunking, this competition.
They did the job. The shadow was a dark one, the pressure intense, but they did not distract, they did not crack.
But now, despite discourse over a possible amnesty in the wake of victory in Berlin, the almost certain upshot of the scandal is that these titans from Juventus, without whom the World Cup would not have been won, will never play club football together again.
The only player who has promised to remain a "Bianconero" - a Juve player - come what may, is Del Piero, the aristocrat of Italian football, who said: "Un gentiluomo non lascia mai una vecchia signora" - "A gentleman never leaves an old lady".
Then there was another powerful undertow beneath Sunday's match, that this grand finale was in part Juventus against Juventus.
Players who can feel each other's breath and pulse - comrades who have together won two Scudetto championships in a row - were now locked in combat with one another for football's ultimate prize.
It does recall the brotherhood between gladiators who, out of the tunnel, must fight to the death.
It is commonplace in international football for teammates to face each other, but not on this scale, not at this level and under these conditions.
From Juventus, for the Italians, came Buffon, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Camoranesi and Del Piero. For France, veteran Lilian Thuram, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira and, well, damn it - what about Zizou himself?
He almost counts, although he left for Madrid, most Juventus fans hope that a slice of his heart remained Bianconero.
This 'Juve contro Juve' didn't start in the final; there was that brotherly but severe handshake between Cannavaro and Juve's forward midfield magician, Pavel Nedved, at the start of the Italy versus Czech Republic game. Have any two captains ever done that in a World Cup?
But there were almost too many Juventus moments in Sunday's final: the comradely pat on the arm and smile from Buffon to Zidane, even though the latter had just beaten the world's most impenetrable goalkeeper from the penalty spot; the penalty 'sbaglio' - error - that won Italy the cup was by David Trezeguet, facing his team mate Buffon, inverting memories of the night that the Juventino Frenchman scored a golden goal which defeated a Juventus-strewn Italy in the 2000 European Championship final.
It goes on, right up to ex-Juventino Zidane's 'testata' with Materazzi - recalling the night Zizou head-butted Hamburg's Jochen Kientz so hard, in a Champions League game, that the German needed cerebral hospital treatment (so much for all this 'stoic' Zizou).
As if all this wasn't enough, there was also the drama of Gianluca Pessotto, the Juventus general manager who had attempted to jump to his death as a result of the scandals.
This story didn't play big globally, but for Juventini in the Italian team trying to keep the domestic narrative at bay, the attempted suicide was like the cut of a scalpel, which, like the scandals themselves, could work either way psychologically.
Pessotto is Del Piero's best friend - to whom the he duly dedicated his semi-final goal against Germany. Cannavaro knew Pessotto well too, and broke down in tears during one press conference when asked about his friend in a coma.
This vortex of "emozione Juve" was churning within Italy's monastic, ascetic retreat in Duisburg and Pessotto did, in the event, manage a victory sign upon hearing Sunday's result.
Yesterday, four Juventus players for the national team went to show Pessotto the World Cup, reducing each other to tears but winning a smile from the patient, and Del Piero gave his friend the shirt he wore on Sunday night. "We also won the cup for Gianluca", said captain Cannavaro.
Do mio, 'l'emozione Juve'. Being Bianconero is itself a complicated and turbulent emotion, which connects the headiness of domination to a desperation for identity with the winner. Supporting Juventus is to draw on a tradition of honour - now betrayed - and to brave the justified envy and loathing of others.
It also entails mourning; it was 39 'tifosi bianconeri' who were killed in the carnage at Heysel Stadium in 1985 - Gesucristo, I was there. That year, bridges over motorways around Rome and Florence bore the graffiti: "Grazie Liverpool" - no translation required.
Alhough Juve play in Turin, La Vecchia Signora is a southern Italian team. In Turin itself, most Juve fans are southerners - or of Southern descent - who have come to work in the factories of the rich North, while indigenous 'Torinesi' tend to be 'Granata' - supporters of the often overshadowed Torino.
It's a pining for identity; actually, frankly, being Bianconero has its sadness, as well as its pride and especially now when, having engineered victory in the World Cup, Juve's glamour has been betrayed by the greed of the machine and its managers.
What will all those Bianconero southerners do now, after watching their heroes win the World Cup, when mighty Juve, like Sampson with his head as shaven as Del Piero's, is humiliated and cast among the minnows?
Their stars of Sunday night fleeing La Vecchia Signora in pursuit of wages and limelight, their emblematic brand now preparing for battle against that humble local team, or less.
So, as Italy's gladiator and captain Cannavaro lifted the trophy, hearts were exploding with joy. But some not entirely.
For many, there was also a bitter "bella ciao" - in the words of an old resistance song - there was also the l'emozione Juve.
In a way, that triumphal march by the World Champions - appropriately to the Circus Maximus in Rome - was also a funeral march for "l'impera Juventina' - the Juventus empire - sacked by the Visigoths of corruption and greed, not this time from the wilderness of the German provinces (another irony), but from inside Juventus' own rotten forum.
But if that victory parade was also a funeral procession for Juventus, the club could take heart from another, less publicised procession in Turin, by 60,000 fans pledging their loyalty to Juve, come what may.
So, forza Azzurri! Alla riscossa Bianconera! And here's also to the ethical cleansing of football in the country where the game is loved more passionately than in any other, except perhaps Brazil, and which has deservedly won the World Cup, thanks in part to players about to abandon the mighty, glorious - but sinking - flagship.
In South Africa 2010, the score may be leveled at Italy 5, Brazil 5. Except that the Azzurri will not be what they were on Sunday, a team that plays exclusively at home.
They will come from all over the place, like any other, and all because the beloved but disgraced Vecchia Signora will have been rightly sent to juvenile boot camp, condemned to humiliation and punishment.
E guardate come sara bella, quella ragazzaccia. Translate that for yourselves.
by Ed Vulliamy
The Guardian
For those of us who have loved Juventus, the "Vecchia Signora" - the "Old Lady" - of Italian football since we were young, "l'emozione Juve" - the Juventus emotion - cut like a rip tide beneath Sunday's game, "la finalissima".
It was a feeling that entwined leonine pride with intense pain, as the Juventino captain, Fabio "Gladiatore" Cannavaro, lifted what felt like the world itself, distilled into a piece of gold, which he actually slept with that night, alongside his son, Christian, to honour a promise kept to the boy.
Cannavaro, like three of the other four Juventus players that won the World Cup, is now packing his bags, preparing to join the diaspora of Juventus players who will now scatter across the constellation of European football, as Juventus shatters and implodes (in his case, probably Real Madrid, along with former Juventus manager Fabio Capello and team mate, Gianluca Zambrotta).
Supporting the club, whose middle name is pride
, now entails another sentiment - shame - as Juventus awaits the verdict, tomorrow night, on the hurricane of scandal, which centres on La Vecchia Signora, also taking in Lazio, Fiorentina and archrivals AC Milan.Milan is less likely to be sentenced to punitive relegation than Juventus, but its players are also catching the eye of those who write the cheques in Spanish and English club football. So when Italy plays its next game, as world champions, it will do so having lost the distinction - as it had in Germany - of being the only country in this championship (apart from Saudi Arabia), and most of its predecessors since 1930, fielding a team in which every player served a domestic club.
"Gli Azzurri" will become like all the others - globalised, a strong and painful 'emozione Italiana' as well as an 'emozione Juve'.
Most obviously, l'emozione Juve on Sunday night and throughout the week starts with the fact that the architect of victory in Berlin, coach Marcello Lippi, who resigned yesterday, had won five Scudetto championships for Juventus.
But while training this victorious national side, Lippi's son was put under criminal investigation for financial corruption and even 'physical menace' as part of the scandal.
While the Azzurri prepared in Florence, the scandal, centred on Juventus, was breaking over Lippi's head.
During training, barely any journalists asked about the upcoming World Cup, it was all about "piedi puliti" - clean feet - so-called because the prosecutor in charge of the case, Judge Borelli, also led the "mani puliti" - clean hands - investigation into political corruption during the early 1990s.
A million fans may have hailed the team in the Circus Maximus on Monday, but seven weeks ago in Florence, they came to jeer. 'Champions or prostitutes?" read the graffiti. Lippi told me back then that he had two jobs to do, one as a football coach, the other as a psychiatrist.
Duly, the players tried to concentrate on their game, while the grey-suited "pezzi grossi" - big pieces - in the boardrooms at both Juve and Milan hurled insults at each other from their respective towers.
But on the ground Italy's captain, Cannavaro, assured us that the team would train and play as one, focused only on the task in hand - victory in the tournament and to be ambassadors for real Italian football.
As did the rest of the squad, which was primarily made up of players from Juve and Milan, two of the big clubs in the firing line. If only the managerial high command had the maturity, professionalism and discipline of the artisans themselves.
And indeed, the idea was planted during training, as I wrote at the time, that the scandal might actually focus and sting the Azzurri into winning, not flunking, this competition.
They did the job. The shadow was a dark one, the pressure intense, but they did not distract, they did not crack.
But now, despite discourse over a possible amnesty in the wake of victory in Berlin, the almost certain upshot of the scandal is that these titans from Juventus, without whom the World Cup would not have been won, will never play club football together again.
The only player who has promised to remain a "Bianconero" - a Juve player - come what may, is Del Piero, the aristocrat of Italian football, who said: "Un gentiluomo non lascia mai una vecchia signora" - "A gentleman never leaves an old lady".
Then there was another powerful undertow beneath Sunday's match, that this grand finale was in part Juventus against Juventus.
Players who can feel each other's breath and pulse - comrades who have together won two Scudetto championships in a row - were now locked in combat with one another for football's ultimate prize.
It does recall the brotherhood between gladiators who, out of the tunnel, must fight to the death.
It is commonplace in international football for teammates to face each other, but not on this scale, not at this level and under these conditions.
From Juventus, for the Italians, came Buffon, Cannavaro, Zambrotta, Camoranesi and Del Piero. For France, veteran Lilian Thuram, David Trezeguet, Patrick Vieira and, well, damn it - what about Zizou himself?
He almost counts, although he left for Madrid, most Juventus fans hope that a slice of his heart remained Bianconero.
This 'Juve contro Juve' didn't start in the final; there was that brotherly but severe handshake between Cannavaro and Juve's forward midfield magician, Pavel Nedved, at the start of the Italy versus Czech Republic game. Have any two captains ever done that in a World Cup?
But there were almost too many Juventus moments in Sunday's final: the comradely pat on the arm and smile from Buffon to Zidane, even though the latter had just beaten the world's most impenetrable goalkeeper from the penalty spot; the penalty 'sbaglio' - error - that won Italy the cup was by David Trezeguet, facing his team mate Buffon, inverting memories of the night that the Juventino Frenchman scored a golden goal which defeated a Juventus-strewn Italy in the 2000 European Championship final.
It goes on, right up to ex-Juventino Zidane's 'testata' with Materazzi - recalling the night Zizou head-butted Hamburg's Jochen Kientz so hard, in a Champions League game, that the German needed cerebral hospital treatment (so much for all this 'stoic' Zizou).
As if all this wasn't enough, there was also the drama of Gianluca Pessotto, the Juventus general manager who had attempted to jump to his death as a result of the scandals.
This story didn't play big globally, but for Juventini in the Italian team trying to keep the domestic narrative at bay, the attempted suicide was like the cut of a scalpel, which, like the scandals themselves, could work either way psychologically.
Pessotto is Del Piero's best friend - to whom the he duly dedicated his semi-final goal against Germany. Cannavaro knew Pessotto well too, and broke down in tears during one press conference when asked about his friend in a coma.
This vortex of "emozione Juve" was churning within Italy's monastic, ascetic retreat in Duisburg and Pessotto did, in the event, manage a victory sign upon hearing Sunday's result.
Yesterday, four Juventus players for the national team went to show Pessotto the World Cup, reducing each other to tears but winning a smile from the patient, and Del Piero gave his friend the shirt he wore on Sunday night. "We also won the cup for Gianluca", said captain Cannavaro.
Do mio, 'l'emozione Juve'. Being Bianconero is itself a complicated and turbulent emotion, which connects the headiness of domination to a desperation for identity with the winner. Supporting Juventus is to draw on a tradition of honour - now betrayed - and to brave the justified envy and loathing of others.
It also entails mourning; it was 39 'tifosi bianconeri' who were killed in the carnage at Heysel Stadium in 1985 - Gesucristo, I was there. That year, bridges over motorways around Rome and Florence bore the graffiti: "Grazie Liverpool" - no translation required.
Alhough Juve play in Turin, La Vecchia Signora is a southern Italian team. In Turin itself, most Juve fans are southerners - or of Southern descent - who have come to work in the factories of the rich North, while indigenous 'Torinesi' tend to be 'Granata' - supporters of the often overshadowed Torino.
It's a pining for identity; actually, frankly, being Bianconero has its sadness, as well as its pride and especially now when, having engineered victory in the World Cup, Juve's glamour has been betrayed by the greed of the machine and its managers.
What will all those Bianconero southerners do now, after watching their heroes win the World Cup, when mighty Juve, like Sampson with his head as shaven as Del Piero's, is humiliated and cast among the minnows?
Their stars of Sunday night fleeing La Vecchia Signora in pursuit of wages and limelight, their emblematic brand now preparing for battle against that humble local team, or less.
So, as Italy's gladiator and captain Cannavaro lifted the trophy, hearts were exploding with joy. But some not entirely.
For many, there was also a bitter "bella ciao" - in the words of an old resistance song - there was also the l'emozione Juve.
In a way, that triumphal march by the World Champions - appropriately to the Circus Maximus in Rome - was also a funeral march for "l'impera Juventina' - the Juventus empire - sacked by the Visigoths of corruption and greed, not this time from the wilderness of the German provinces (another irony), but from inside Juventus' own rotten forum.
But if that victory parade was also a funeral procession for Juventus, the club could take heart from another, less publicised procession in Turin, by 60,000 fans pledging their loyalty to Juve, come what may.
So, forza Azzurri! Alla riscossa Bianconera! And here's also to the ethical cleansing of football in the country where the game is loved more passionately than in any other, except perhaps Brazil, and which has deservedly won the World Cup, thanks in part to players about to abandon the mighty, glorious - but sinking - flagship.
In South Africa 2010, the score may be leveled at Italy 5, Brazil 5. Except that the Azzurri will not be what they were on Sunday, a team that plays exclusively at home.
They will come from all over the place, like any other, and all because the beloved but disgraced Vecchia Signora will have been rightly sent to juvenile boot camp, condemned to humiliation and punishment.
E guardate come sara bella, quella ragazzaccia. Translate that for yourselves.
by Ed Vulliamy
The Guardian
Trapattoni climbs another mountain
Now in his 33rd year as a coach, Giovanni Trapattoni is still as enthusiastic as ever, with Red Bull Salzburg the latest club to benefit from his managerial acumen.
(AFP) OLIVER LANG
(FIFA.com) 07 May 2007
Having accrued innumerable honours during his 47 years in football, it might be expected of Giovanni Trapattoni that he would be beginning to wind down. Not a bit of it. At 68, this most experienced and respected of coaches still has an insatiable thirst for the game, and is currently relishing the challenge of ensuring that ambitious Austrian outfit Red Bull Salzburg realise their lofty aspirations.
“I often wonder when I’ll quit football, but I still don’t have the answer,” explains the man who began his managerial career back in 1974 with AC Milan.
Ask him how he cultivates his youthful passion for the game year after year, and the veteran coach does not need a second thought: “By constantly trying to set new objectives and meet new challenges. It’s not just the idea of winning that excites me. It’s more about getting my team to play one-touch football and getting players to fulfil themselves in positions they didn’t start out in.”
The idea of winning certainly remains high on his list of priorities too, and with Lothar Matthaus as assistant he recently marked his first season in Austria by steering SV Red Bull Salzburg to the national title. Given that his current club are the richest in the country, some might be tempted to downplay the achievement, but Trapattoni rejects that idea out of hand. “It’s never easy,” he declares. “The team was completely overhauled, I was discovering a new culture and we had to build a squad. You try getting players from 13 different countries to get along!”
On the last point, legendary former goalkeeper Dino Zoff is in no doubt at all about the irrepressible 68-year-old’s credentials. “Trapattoni is the ideal coach for brining a squad together,” he commented, and he should know, having long served under the master during his playing days.
Tactical flexibility
In Austria, Trapatonni did not take long to win over a whole new set of admirers. Still in great shape, he won instant respect by leading from the front during the team’s endurance and stretching exercises, and in the realm of tactics he once again proved himself to be one of the game’s great thinkers.
Settling on the best system for his new outfit, he distanced himself from the idea there is a magic formula that can be applied to every team. “I don’t know how many times I’ve had to change formation down the years,” he says. “Most notably, I’ve gone through 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, not to mention 4-2-3-1 with the national side.
“You have to use your experience and know international football well to be able to blend into different cultures. You need to get acquainted with the language, food and habits of the country and, above all, never improvise in an attempt to get yourself accepted. Otherwise, you end up like a bull in a china shop.”
Trapattoni put his expertise to good use at Salzburg and wrapped the league up with relative comfort, thanks to a 20-point lead five matches before the end of the season. It was the club’s first domestic crown since 1996/97 and, for their well-travelled trainer, yet another addition to an already-impressive list of honours.
In a coaching career spanning 33 years, he has managed eight different teams (Juventus, Inter, Bayern Munich, Cagliari, Fiorentina, Benfica, Stuttgart and Salzburg) and clinched 23 trophies, including ten championship titles in four different countries. Aside from his recent Austrian conquest, seven of those league triumphs came in Italy (six with Juve, one with Inter), one was achieved in Germany with Bayern in 1997 and one in Portugal with Benfica in 2005.
Pointing the way, Salzburg's Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni directs his side from the touchline.
Pointing the way, Salzburg's Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni directs his side from the touchline.
(AFP)
Miguel RIOPA
Elite band
That illustrious record puts Trapattoni third on the all-time European list alongside Austrian coach Ernst Happel, who also reached the summit in four separate championships (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria).
Far from finished, he could yet catch Hungary’s Bela Guttmann, who secured titles in five countries (Hungary, Italy, Brazil, Portugal and Uruguay) and perhaps even the record-holder Tomislav Ivic of Croatia, a league winner in six (Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Portugal and France).
Similarly, Trapattoni’s 23 trophies place him third on the podium of European coaches behind two Scots, Sir Alex Ferguson having claimed 33 and Jock Stein 26. Ukraine’s Valeri Lobanovsky also boasts 23, with Ottmar Hitzfeld of Germany close behind on 22.
In fact, Trapatonni’s only experience of failure came during his four-year spell with the Azzurri. Between 2000 and 2004, he contested 44 matches with the Italian national side, winning 25, drawing 12 and losing seven. Respectable figures perhaps, but the team fell frustratingly short in the two major tournaments they entered with Trapattoni in the dugout. Beaten in the Round of 16 at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™, they fared even worse at the UEFA European Championship two years later, bidding farewell to Portugal after the first round.
“I’ll never coach a team in Italy again, but the idea of trying a new experience in another country definitely tempts me,” asserts the man himself. “That said, here [at Salzburg] they are counting on me for the Champions League next season. It could be interesting to be get past the qualifying round and contest the group stage.” Already focusing on his next challenge, Giovanni Trapattoni shows no signs of losing his appetite for success.
FIFA.com
Now in his 33rd year as a coach, Giovanni Trapattoni is still as enthusiastic as ever, with Red Bull Salzburg the latest club to benefit from his managerial acumen.
(AFP) OLIVER LANG
(FIFA.com) 07 May 2007
Having accrued innumerable honours during his 47 years in football, it might be expected of Giovanni Trapattoni that he would be beginning to wind down. Not a bit of it. At 68, this most experienced and respected of coaches still has an insatiable thirst for the game, and is currently relishing the challenge of ensuring that ambitious Austrian outfit Red Bull Salzburg realise their lofty aspirations.
“I often wonder when I’ll quit football, but I still don’t have the answer,” explains the man who began his managerial career back in 1974 with AC Milan.
Ask him how he cultivates his youthful passion for the game year after year, and the veteran coach does not need a second thought: “By constantly trying to set new objectives and meet new challenges. It’s not just the idea of winning that excites me. It’s more about getting my team to play one-touch football and getting players to fulfil themselves in positions they didn’t start out in.”
The idea of winning certainly remains high on his list of priorities too, and with Lothar Matthaus as assistant he recently marked his first season in Austria by steering SV Red Bull Salzburg to the national title. Given that his current club are the richest in the country, some might be tempted to downplay the achievement, but Trapattoni rejects that idea out of hand. “It’s never easy,” he declares. “The team was completely overhauled, I was discovering a new culture and we had to build a squad. You try getting players from 13 different countries to get along!”
On the last point, legendary former goalkeeper Dino Zoff is in no doubt at all about the irrepressible 68-year-old’s credentials. “Trapattoni is the ideal coach for brining a squad together,” he commented, and he should know, having long served under the master during his playing days.
Tactical flexibility
In Austria, Trapatonni did not take long to win over a whole new set of admirers. Still in great shape, he won instant respect by leading from the front during the team’s endurance and stretching exercises, and in the realm of tactics he once again proved himself to be one of the game’s great thinkers.
Settling on the best system for his new outfit, he distanced himself from the idea there is a magic formula that can be applied to every team. “I don’t know how many times I’ve had to change formation down the years,” he says. “Most notably, I’ve gone through 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, not to mention 4-2-3-1 with the national side.
“You have to use your experience and know international football well to be able to blend into different cultures. You need to get acquainted with the language, food and habits of the country and, above all, never improvise in an attempt to get yourself accepted. Otherwise, you end up like a bull in a china shop.”
Trapattoni put his expertise to good use at Salzburg and wrapped the league up with relative comfort, thanks to a 20-point lead five matches before the end of the season. It was the club’s first domestic crown since 1996/97 and, for their well-travelled trainer, yet another addition to an already-impressive list of honours.
In a coaching career spanning 33 years, he has managed eight different teams (Juventus, Inter, Bayern Munich, Cagliari, Fiorentina, Benfica, Stuttgart and Salzburg) and clinched 23 trophies, including ten championship titles in four different countries. Aside from his recent Austrian conquest, seven of those league triumphs came in Italy (six with Juve, one with Inter), one was achieved in Germany with Bayern in 1997 and one in Portugal with Benfica in 2005.
Pointing the way, Salzburg's Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni directs his side from the touchline.
Pointing the way, Salzburg's Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni directs his side from the touchline.
(AFP)
Miguel RIOPA
Elite band
That illustrious record puts Trapattoni third on the all-time European list alongside Austrian coach Ernst Happel, who also reached the summit in four separate championships (Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria).
Far from finished, he could yet catch Hungary’s Bela Guttmann, who secured titles in five countries (Hungary, Italy, Brazil, Portugal and Uruguay) and perhaps even the record-holder Tomislav Ivic of Croatia, a league winner in six (Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Portugal and France).
Similarly, Trapattoni’s 23 trophies place him third on the podium of European coaches behind two Scots, Sir Alex Ferguson having claimed 33 and Jock Stein 26. Ukraine’s Valeri Lobanovsky also boasts 23, with Ottmar Hitzfeld of Germany close behind on 22.
In fact, Trapatonni’s only experience of failure came during his four-year spell with the Azzurri. Between 2000 and 2004, he contested 44 matches with the Italian national side, winning 25, drawing 12 and losing seven. Respectable figures perhaps, but the team fell frustratingly short in the two major tournaments they entered with Trapattoni in the dugout. Beaten in the Round of 16 at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™, they fared even worse at the UEFA European Championship two years later, bidding farewell to Portugal after the first round.
“I’ll never coach a team in Italy again, but the idea of trying a new experience in another country definitely tempts me,” asserts the man himself. “That said, here [at Salzburg] they are counting on me for the Champions League next season. It could be interesting to be get past the qualifying round and contest the group stage.” Already focusing on his next challenge, Giovanni Trapattoni shows no signs of losing his appetite for success.
FIFA.com
Thu May 17, 2007 3:00 AM BST30
By Mark Meadows
MILAN, May 17 (Reuters) - Fallen giants Juventus will be promoted back to Serie A on Saturday with three games to spare if they win at Arezzo.
The Turin club were demoted from the top flight last season in Italy's match-fixing scandal but are ready to make an immediate return with several big name players including Alessandro del Piero still in the side.
Juve's possible promotion from Serie B takes centre stage this weekend with most of Serie A having already been decided.
Inter Milan ran away with the title, AS Roma will finish second while Lazio and AC Milan have wrapped up the Champions League qualifying spots.
Fiorentina can secure a UEFA Cup spot if they win at already-relegated Messina on Sunday, as can Empoli who host struggling Reggina.
Italy striker Luca Toni, again linked with Bayern Munich this week, is still out for Fiorentina with a foot problem.
Palermo, who brought back former coach Francesco Guidolin on Monday, are most in danger of dropping out of the three UEFA Cup spots.
The Sicilians entertain relegation-threatened Siena with Atalanta, just three points behind with two to play, hosting champions Inter.
Reinvigorated forward Christian Vieri will be itching to return to his former club and help Atalanta steal the last European place.
AC Milan will be looking to avoid injuries and may pick a second-string side against mid-table Udinese on Saturday ahead of the Champions League final with Liverpool in Athens next Wednesday.
HOTTING UP
The battle to avoid the last relegation place in Serie A also hots up on Sunday with doomed Ascoli visiting Chievo, who occupy third from bottom.
Eight sides are still in danger with only three points separating Livorno in 11th and Chievo.
In Serie B, a victory at Arezzo means Juventus will definitely finish in the top two and gain promotion irrespective of what rivals Genoa do at Bari or Napoli manage against Modena.
Juve would have 82 points with three games to go and only one of Genoa or Napoli could overhaul their total because the pair play each other in the final match of the season.
Didier Deschamps' side would be promoted as they have a better head-to-head record against Genoa, who could finish level with Juve if Napoli end up top.
The third-placed side, currently Napoli, will hope to maintain a 10-point gap over fourth as this would send them up alongside the top two without the need for a playoff between third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
REUTERS
By Mark Meadows
MILAN, May 17 (Reuters) - Fallen giants Juventus will be promoted back to Serie A on Saturday with three games to spare if they win at Arezzo.
The Turin club were demoted from the top flight last season in Italy's match-fixing scandal but are ready to make an immediate return with several big name players including Alessandro del Piero still in the side.
Juve's possible promotion from Serie B takes centre stage this weekend with most of Serie A having already been decided.
Inter Milan ran away with the title, AS Roma will finish second while Lazio and AC Milan have wrapped up the Champions League qualifying spots.
Fiorentina can secure a UEFA Cup spot if they win at already-relegated Messina on Sunday, as can Empoli who host struggling Reggina.
Italy striker Luca Toni, again linked with Bayern Munich this week, is still out for Fiorentina with a foot problem.
Palermo, who brought back former coach Francesco Guidolin on Monday, are most in danger of dropping out of the three UEFA Cup spots.
The Sicilians entertain relegation-threatened Siena with Atalanta, just three points behind with two to play, hosting champions Inter.
Reinvigorated forward Christian Vieri will be itching to return to his former club and help Atalanta steal the last European place.
AC Milan will be looking to avoid injuries and may pick a second-string side against mid-table Udinese on Saturday ahead of the Champions League final with Liverpool in Athens next Wednesday.
HOTTING UP
The battle to avoid the last relegation place in Serie A also hots up on Sunday with doomed Ascoli visiting Chievo, who occupy third from bottom.
Eight sides are still in danger with only three points separating Livorno in 11th and Chievo.
In Serie B, a victory at Arezzo means Juventus will definitely finish in the top two and gain promotion irrespective of what rivals Genoa do at Bari or Napoli manage against Modena.
Juve would have 82 points with three games to go and only one of Genoa or Napoli could overhaul their total because the pair play each other in the final match of the season.
Didier Deschamps' side would be promoted as they have a better head-to-head record against Genoa, who could finish level with Juve if Napoli end up top.
The third-placed side, currently Napoli, will hope to maintain a 10-point gap over fourth as this would send them up alongside the top two without the need for a playoff between third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
REUTERS
Juve: Back Where They Belong
These past two weeks have been a mixture of joy and disappointment for the Bianconeri fans who saw their side win promotion back to the Italian topflight, but also lose the coach who led them to this achievement.
With Juventus (and probably even Genoa and Napoli) back in Serie A, Italian football will regain some of the allure it lost in the past season following the Calciopoli scandal and the unchallenged Inter Scudetto.
However, how will this return back to the topflight be for the Old Lady? A bumpy one or a path paved towards glory? Probably the answer lies somewhere in between. Even with the current squad, the Bianconeri can easily finish among the top eight, when you take into consideration the fact that half of the teams in Serie B are probably in the same level of half of the teams in Serie A. So if Juventus managed to top Serie B, there's no reason to stop them from at least making it into the top eight or above.
Now, to break into the top five, the Juventus management will need to bolster the side, especially in the midfield department. Two good purchases there and at least a world class central defender might make a whole difference for the Bianconeri in their bid to reach Europe in their first season back in Serie A.
Unfortunately for the Juve fans, most of the names linked to their team have either been signed by another club or have decided to remain with their current squad. However, with the probable arrival of Claudio Ranieri on the Bianconeri’s bench, the Old Lady will finally be able to make some important transfer movements, including the arrivals of Frank Lampard and Mohamed Sissoko.
The Juve fans must be realistic and concede that there will be no glory in the first season as there’s no way the Old Lady can challenge Milan and Inter for the league title. So the only two possibilities of any satisfaction lie in the Coppa Italia and the two games against the Nerazzurri, where the Bianconeri can achieve their revenge against Moratti and his club.
With quite a substantial budget for the transfer market, Juventus will now need to spend a lot and well in order to build the team for the future. But what could be the choices? Let’s take each department separately.
In goal, Gianluigi Buffon is almost certain of staying with the club so that solves what could have been a big problem. However, in case the Italian national goalkeeper changes his mind, then the real only possible alternative would be Amelia of Livorno.
The defence was not always up to par this year, and considering this was Serie B football, then the Juve management should be worrying to strengthen it considerably. Rumour is that Fabio Cannavaro could make a surprise return to Turin, and his experience might prove fundamental for the new Juve rearguard. Both Boumsong and Kovac have alternated some good performances with many poor ones, so at most they should be considered just as a back-up. Surprisingly enough, Legrottaglie was the most impressive of the lot, so he could actually be a starter next season, depending on who will join the Bianconeri. Gamberini and Pasqual of Fiorentina have both been linked to the Old Lady, but we will find out more in the coming weeks.
Midfield presents a set of good aging players, but probably requires two good central midfielders who can make the difference. There are many players present in the transfer market, so it’s up to the Juve management to make the right choices. A wrong player could break the entire season as a lot will depend on this central role.
In attack Trezeguet’s situation is still very unclear and Bojinov is surely going back to Florence. Incoming players are Iaquinta and maybe another important striker. Probably the only department that does not really need a lot of changes considering the good number of quality players present, including also Del Piero and Palladino.
With a few touches there and then, this Juve side can surely make it into the top five, but the wrong choices could land them just a Uefa Cup spot or even nothing at all. The ball is in the Juve directors' court, it's up to them to push the Old Lady back to the top of Italian and European football.
Which do you think would be the best transfers for the Bianconeri to help them in their bid to get a top 5 position next season?
Goal.com
These past two weeks have been a mixture of joy and disappointment for the Bianconeri fans who saw their side win promotion back to the Italian topflight, but also lose the coach who led them to this achievement.
With Juventus (and probably even Genoa and Napoli) back in Serie A, Italian football will regain some of the allure it lost in the past season following the Calciopoli scandal and the unchallenged Inter Scudetto.
However, how will this return back to the topflight be for the Old Lady? A bumpy one or a path paved towards glory? Probably the answer lies somewhere in between. Even with the current squad, the Bianconeri can easily finish among the top eight, when you take into consideration the fact that half of the teams in Serie B are probably in the same level of half of the teams in Serie A. So if Juventus managed to top Serie B, there's no reason to stop them from at least making it into the top eight or above.
Now, to break into the top five, the Juventus management will need to bolster the side, especially in the midfield department. Two good purchases there and at least a world class central defender might make a whole difference for the Bianconeri in their bid to reach Europe in their first season back in Serie A.
Unfortunately for the Juve fans, most of the names linked to their team have either been signed by another club or have decided to remain with their current squad. However, with the probable arrival of Claudio Ranieri on the Bianconeri’s bench, the Old Lady will finally be able to make some important transfer movements, including the arrivals of Frank Lampard and Mohamed Sissoko.
The Juve fans must be realistic and concede that there will be no glory in the first season as there’s no way the Old Lady can challenge Milan and Inter for the league title. So the only two possibilities of any satisfaction lie in the Coppa Italia and the two games against the Nerazzurri, where the Bianconeri can achieve their revenge against Moratti and his club.
With quite a substantial budget for the transfer market, Juventus will now need to spend a lot and well in order to build the team for the future. But what could be the choices? Let’s take each department separately.
In goal, Gianluigi Buffon is almost certain of staying with the club so that solves what could have been a big problem. However, in case the Italian national goalkeeper changes his mind, then the real only possible alternative would be Amelia of Livorno.
The defence was not always up to par this year, and considering this was Serie B football, then the Juve management should be worrying to strengthen it considerably. Rumour is that Fabio Cannavaro could make a surprise return to Turin, and his experience might prove fundamental for the new Juve rearguard. Both Boumsong and Kovac have alternated some good performances with many poor ones, so at most they should be considered just as a back-up. Surprisingly enough, Legrottaglie was the most impressive of the lot, so he could actually be a starter next season, depending on who will join the Bianconeri. Gamberini and Pasqual of Fiorentina have both been linked to the Old Lady, but we will find out more in the coming weeks.
Midfield presents a set of good aging players, but probably requires two good central midfielders who can make the difference. There are many players present in the transfer market, so it’s up to the Juve management to make the right choices. A wrong player could break the entire season as a lot will depend on this central role.
In attack Trezeguet’s situation is still very unclear and Bojinov is surely going back to Florence. Incoming players are Iaquinta and maybe another important striker. Probably the only department that does not really need a lot of changes considering the good number of quality players present, including also Del Piero and Palladino.
With a few touches there and then, this Juve side can surely make it into the top five, but the wrong choices could land them just a Uefa Cup spot or even nothing at all. The ball is in the Juve directors' court, it's up to them to push the Old Lady back to the top of Italian and European football.
Which do you think would be the best transfers for the Bianconeri to help them in their bid to get a top 5 position next season?
Goal.com
Roberto Mancini’s father revealed to Italian free-daily ‘Leggo’ that his son ‘will never go to Juve’
“It’s the history that says so,” explained Aldo Mancini, “when my son was seventeen Juventus tried to buy him, but I had already given my word to Sampdoria’s chairman Mantovani.”
“Then again in 1989 Juventus wanted him, but Mantovani, who was a second-father to my son, said no,” Mancini senior continued.
Now ‘Il Mancio’ is the Bianconeri’s biggest rival on the football stage as he is Inter’s coach, a role that Aldo Mancini believes is perfect for his son.
“He even acts a bit like Moratti,” he said, before adding the final touch to his interview.
“My son likes to be on the opposition’s side, where one starts as the loser, but ends as the onest one.”
goal.com
WELL WE DONT WANT HIM YOU PIECE OF SH*T!
“It’s the history that says so,” explained Aldo Mancini, “when my son was seventeen Juventus tried to buy him, but I had already given my word to Sampdoria’s chairman Mantovani.”
“Then again in 1989 Juventus wanted him, but Mantovani, who was a second-father to my son, said no,” Mancini senior continued.
Now ‘Il Mancio’ is the Bianconeri’s biggest rival on the football stage as he is Inter’s coach, a role that Aldo Mancini believes is perfect for his son.
“He even acts a bit like Moratti,” he said, before adding the final touch to his interview.
“My son likes to be on the opposition’s side, where one starts as the loser, but ends as the onest one.”
goal.com
WELL WE DONT WANT HIM YOU PIECE OF SH*T!
English Championship club Coventry City are set to lose £250,000 as result of Italian giants Juventus cancelling a friendly between the two clubs.
The game had been arranged for 31 July at City’s ground, the Ricoh Arena. However Juventus unexpectedly pulled the plug on the game, meaning Coventry will lose in the region of £250,000 from gate receipts and sales on the day.
The Sky Blues managing director Paul Fletcher said: “Juventus have shown a real lack of professionalism to cancel the game in this manner after everything was agreed.
“To renege on their undertaking is bitterly disappointing.”
goal.com
The game had been arranged for 31 July at City’s ground, the Ricoh Arena. However Juventus unexpectedly pulled the plug on the game, meaning Coventry will lose in the region of £250,000 from gate receipts and sales on the day.
The Sky Blues managing director Paul Fletcher said: “Juventus have shown a real lack of professionalism to cancel the game in this manner after everything was agreed.
“To renege on their undertaking is bitterly disappointing.”
goal.com
The new Juve
Year after scandal, relegation, Juventus on way back
Alessandro Del Piero and Juventus will be back in Serie A for the 2007-08 season after taking the Serie B title earlier this year.
One of the most well-worn clichés in sports is that "staying at the top is tougher than getting there." It's also one of the most idiotic. If you're smart and have even the most basic resources at your disposal you can, once you attain success, parlay it into a virtuous cycle, making it even harder for the competition to knock you off your perch.
Juventus, of course, grew used to being on top, whether by fair means or foul (as was revealed in last summer's Calciopoli scandal), over the past decade. But that hegemony was smashed by the scandal, which saw Juve relegated to Serie B, publicly humiliated and forced to sell many of its stars. A year after its summer of shame, Juventus is back in Serie A, for what promises to be a very different experience.
The likes of Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, and, of course, Alessandro Del Piero are still around, as are David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedved. But much of the midfield and defense have been radically overhauled. Plus, there is an entirely different aura around the club, mostly due to the choice of manager, Claudio Ranieri, who replaced Didier Deschamps (despite the Frenchman leading Juve to the Serie B title).
Ranieri beat out Gianluca Vialli for the job. Among the decisive factors, was that, unlike Vialli, the former Valencia boss had no ties to the old Juve, either as a player or as a coach. But another key factor had to do with image. Whatever else one may think of him, Ranieri is a genuinely likeable guy, a true gentleman who avoids controversy and radiates fair play.
Contrast this with the previous regime, the combination of manager Fabio Capello, chief executive Antonio Giraudo, vice president Roberto Bettega and general manger Luciano Moggi. Lapo Elkann, scion of the Agnelli family and one of the club's owners famously said about that quartet: "The fact that Moggi is the most likeable of the bunch says it all, doesn't it?"
Winning friends is only part of the new Juve. Soon after promotion it became clear that the club had to build for next season. What's more, it had to do it from a severely weakened position. Two years ago, Juventus attracted more sponsorship money than any other club in the world: most of those contracts were voided following relegation. Two seasons without the Champions League (last year and this year) are also quite a blow, as is the lost stadium revenue from the year in Serie B.
All of this left Juventus in a big financial hole, which meant this summer's transfer budget was rather limited. Those who expected the Bianconeri to roar back with a star-studded array of new faces are going to be disappointed. Instead, Juve went for guys who could help the team go to the next level which, at this stage, means -- at a minimum -- qualifying for the Champions' League.
Along the way, Juve has strengthened every department, albeit quietly. Jorge Andrade and Zdenek Grygera may not be box-office players but they are solid veterans who will tighten up the back four. The new faces in midfield have a similar profile: Tiago, formerly of Lyon and Chelsea, Hasan Salihamidzic, picked up on a free from Bayern, and the Argentine Sergio Almiron, one of Serie A's unsung heroes last year. All are solid, workman-like pros with the added bonus of not costing too much in terms of wages or transfer fees, much like Vincenzo Iaquinta, a World Cup-winning center forward, nabbed on the cheap from Udinese.
For an aristocratic club like Juventus, it's quite the blue-collar revolution. It also leaves Ranieri with a very large squad, one which includes varied constituencies, from gifted up-and-comers (Domenico Criscito, Raffaele Palladino, Claudio Marchisio) to holdover superstars from the old Juve (Camoranesi, Del Piero, Nedved, Trezeguet and Buffon) to the new signings.
Keeping everyone happy and finding enough playing time in a season with no European action won't be easy. Particularly since you have to wonder how many of these guys fit into Ranieri's plan. In fact, it's an open secret that Nedved's decision to play another year was seen as something of a mixed blessing. Equally, the club tried to sell Camoranesi and Trezeguet but nobody came close to matching Juve's valuation. And so Juve re-signed them to long-term deals (through 2010 and 2011, respectively) with the club's spin doctors putting out the message that two "crucial cogs" to Juve's future had been put into place with the contract extensions.
Whether this was the case or whether Juve just found itself stuck with these guys and preferred giving them new deals rather than losing them on free transfers next summer remains to be seen. What does seem indisputable, however, is that Ranieri will have plenty to sink his teeth into this season. He's not just rebuilding a side. He and Juve's new executives are rebuilding a whole club, a brand, a way of doing business. And they are doing it at one of the most historic and tradition-rich clubs in the world, after making a clean break from its recent past. It's a tall order indeed.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/gabriele_marcotti/07/19/marcotti/1.html
Year after scandal, relegation, Juventus on way back
Alessandro Del Piero and Juventus will be back in Serie A for the 2007-08 season after taking the Serie B title earlier this year.
One of the most well-worn clichés in sports is that "staying at the top is tougher than getting there." It's also one of the most idiotic. If you're smart and have even the most basic resources at your disposal you can, once you attain success, parlay it into a virtuous cycle, making it even harder for the competition to knock you off your perch.
Juventus, of course, grew used to being on top, whether by fair means or foul (as was revealed in last summer's Calciopoli scandal), over the past decade. But that hegemony was smashed by the scandal, which saw Juve relegated to Serie B, publicly humiliated and forced to sell many of its stars. A year after its summer of shame, Juventus is back in Serie A, for what promises to be a very different experience.
The likes of Gigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, and, of course, Alessandro Del Piero are still around, as are David Trezeguet and Pavel Nedved. But much of the midfield and defense have been radically overhauled. Plus, there is an entirely different aura around the club, mostly due to the choice of manager, Claudio Ranieri, who replaced Didier Deschamps (despite the Frenchman leading Juve to the Serie B title).
Ranieri beat out Gianluca Vialli for the job. Among the decisive factors, was that, unlike Vialli, the former Valencia boss had no ties to the old Juve, either as a player or as a coach. But another key factor had to do with image. Whatever else one may think of him, Ranieri is a genuinely likeable guy, a true gentleman who avoids controversy and radiates fair play.
Contrast this with the previous regime, the combination of manager Fabio Capello, chief executive Antonio Giraudo, vice president Roberto Bettega and general manger Luciano Moggi. Lapo Elkann, scion of the Agnelli family and one of the club's owners famously said about that quartet: "The fact that Moggi is the most likeable of the bunch says it all, doesn't it?"
Winning friends is only part of the new Juve. Soon after promotion it became clear that the club had to build for next season. What's more, it had to do it from a severely weakened position. Two years ago, Juventus attracted more sponsorship money than any other club in the world: most of those contracts were voided following relegation. Two seasons without the Champions League (last year and this year) are also quite a blow, as is the lost stadium revenue from the year in Serie B.
All of this left Juventus in a big financial hole, which meant this summer's transfer budget was rather limited. Those who expected the Bianconeri to roar back with a star-studded array of new faces are going to be disappointed. Instead, Juve went for guys who could help the team go to the next level which, at this stage, means -- at a minimum -- qualifying for the Champions' League.
Along the way, Juve has strengthened every department, albeit quietly. Jorge Andrade and Zdenek Grygera may not be box-office players but they are solid veterans who will tighten up the back four. The new faces in midfield have a similar profile: Tiago, formerly of Lyon and Chelsea, Hasan Salihamidzic, picked up on a free from Bayern, and the Argentine Sergio Almiron, one of Serie A's unsung heroes last year. All are solid, workman-like pros with the added bonus of not costing too much in terms of wages or transfer fees, much like Vincenzo Iaquinta, a World Cup-winning center forward, nabbed on the cheap from Udinese.
For an aristocratic club like Juventus, it's quite the blue-collar revolution. It also leaves Ranieri with a very large squad, one which includes varied constituencies, from gifted up-and-comers (Domenico Criscito, Raffaele Palladino, Claudio Marchisio) to holdover superstars from the old Juve (Camoranesi, Del Piero, Nedved, Trezeguet and Buffon) to the new signings.
Keeping everyone happy and finding enough playing time in a season with no European action won't be easy. Particularly since you have to wonder how many of these guys fit into Ranieri's plan. In fact, it's an open secret that Nedved's decision to play another year was seen as something of a mixed blessing. Equally, the club tried to sell Camoranesi and Trezeguet but nobody came close to matching Juve's valuation. And so Juve re-signed them to long-term deals (through 2010 and 2011, respectively) with the club's spin doctors putting out the message that two "crucial cogs" to Juve's future had been put into place with the contract extensions.
Whether this was the case or whether Juve just found itself stuck with these guys and preferred giving them new deals rather than losing them on free transfers next summer remains to be seen. What does seem indisputable, however, is that Ranieri will have plenty to sink his teeth into this season. He's not just rebuilding a side. He and Juve's new executives are rebuilding a whole club, a brand, a way of doing business. And they are doing it at one of the most historic and tradition-rich clubs in the world, after making a clean break from its recent past. It's a tall order indeed.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/gabriele_marcotti/07/19/marcotti/1.html
Serie A returns to normal after a series of scandals
(Reuters)
17 August 2007
MILAN — Italy is eagerly awaiting the prospect of the most exciting Serie A season in years with no team starting on minus points and big guns Juventus back in the top flight.
The last campaign was damaged by Juve’s demotion to the second tier for match-fixing and Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina having points deducted for their role in the scandal.
Inter Milan, awarded the 2006 scudetto in a courtroom, broke records galore on their way to a first title on the field since 1989 but it was devalued by the lack of competition.
This season though offers a raft of mouthwatering clashes with big clubs Genoa and Napoli also in the mix after promotion.
There is even the prospect of a four horse race for the championship, which in many ways has benefited from the traumas. Despite the slightly hollow victory, Inter now believe in themselves and a repeat of previous collapses is unlikely.
Similarly AS Roma gained confidence from finishing runners-up with Francesco Totti banging in 26 goals to win the European Golden Boot and proving he could play upfront alone.
Milan’s eight-point deduction meant they could not mount a title challenge, which gave Carlo Ancelotti’s side the chance to concentrate on winning the Champions League. Juventus want to show they are still a force despite their year in Serie B and have gone on a large spending spree to complement the top names they kept such as Gianluigi Buffon.
“Serie A this year will be beautiful, competitive and enhanced by the great teams that were missing before — Napoli, Genoa and Juventus,” said Juve coach Claudio Ranieri, who kept Parma up last season before replacing Didier Deschamps. Stadium security has also been improved following the shock at a policeman’s death during riots at Catania in February.
Not rosy
All is still not rosy in Italian football, however.
Outside the main four, most clubs are short on resources and top players with Lazio and Parma shadows of their former selves.
Milan’s Kaka apart, big foreign names have generally been choosing Spain or England over Italy in recent years but now even Italians are turning their backs on Serie A.
Italy striker Luca Toni moved to Bayern Munich from Fiorentina and among others Livorno striker Cristiano Lucarelli made the surprise decision to go to Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk.
The flow of talent into Serie A has been a trickle at best.
Roma brought in Brazil defender Juan and Barcelona winger Ludovic Giuly but have failed to address the issue of who would score the goals if talisman Totti was injured for a long period.
Lyon’s Portugal midfielder Tiago was Juve’s biggest buy at 13 million euros ($18 million) but some fans are disappointed.
The defence looked shaky in Serie B and new boys Jorge Andrade and Czech centre back Zdenek Grygera have not stopped the rot in friendlies.
The big moves came within Italy with Inter Milan using their champions’ status to tempt Romania defender Cristian Chivu from Roma and top Cagliari striker David Suazo.
Milan tried to hijack the Suazo deal and relations between the rivals are at a real low.
Italy will come together though in May to honour a great player.
AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini, 39, will retire after 23 years at the San Siro and is desperate to add to his 24 winners’ medals big tally.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...ust541.xml§ion=sports&subsection=football
(Reuters)
17 August 2007
MILAN — Italy is eagerly awaiting the prospect of the most exciting Serie A season in years with no team starting on minus points and big guns Juventus back in the top flight.
The last campaign was damaged by Juve’s demotion to the second tier for match-fixing and Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina having points deducted for their role in the scandal.
Inter Milan, awarded the 2006 scudetto in a courtroom, broke records galore on their way to a first title on the field since 1989 but it was devalued by the lack of competition.
This season though offers a raft of mouthwatering clashes with big clubs Genoa and Napoli also in the mix after promotion.
There is even the prospect of a four horse race for the championship, which in many ways has benefited from the traumas. Despite the slightly hollow victory, Inter now believe in themselves and a repeat of previous collapses is unlikely.
Similarly AS Roma gained confidence from finishing runners-up with Francesco Totti banging in 26 goals to win the European Golden Boot and proving he could play upfront alone.
Milan’s eight-point deduction meant they could not mount a title challenge, which gave Carlo Ancelotti’s side the chance to concentrate on winning the Champions League. Juventus want to show they are still a force despite their year in Serie B and have gone on a large spending spree to complement the top names they kept such as Gianluigi Buffon.
“Serie A this year will be beautiful, competitive and enhanced by the great teams that were missing before — Napoli, Genoa and Juventus,” said Juve coach Claudio Ranieri, who kept Parma up last season before replacing Didier Deschamps. Stadium security has also been improved following the shock at a policeman’s death during riots at Catania in February.
Not rosy
All is still not rosy in Italian football, however.
Outside the main four, most clubs are short on resources and top players with Lazio and Parma shadows of their former selves.
Milan’s Kaka apart, big foreign names have generally been choosing Spain or England over Italy in recent years but now even Italians are turning their backs on Serie A.
Italy striker Luca Toni moved to Bayern Munich from Fiorentina and among others Livorno striker Cristiano Lucarelli made the surprise decision to go to Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk.
The flow of talent into Serie A has been a trickle at best.
Roma brought in Brazil defender Juan and Barcelona winger Ludovic Giuly but have failed to address the issue of who would score the goals if talisman Totti was injured for a long period.
Lyon’s Portugal midfielder Tiago was Juve’s biggest buy at 13 million euros ($18 million) but some fans are disappointed.
The defence looked shaky in Serie B and new boys Jorge Andrade and Czech centre back Zdenek Grygera have not stopped the rot in friendlies.
The big moves came within Italy with Inter Milan using their champions’ status to tempt Romania defender Cristian Chivu from Roma and top Cagliari striker David Suazo.
Milan tried to hijack the Suazo deal and relations between the rivals are at a real low.
Italy will come together though in May to honour a great player.
AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini, 39, will retire after 23 years at the San Siro and is desperate to add to his 24 winners’ medals big tally.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...ust541.xml§ion=sports&subsection=football