[CL] Champions League 2014/15 (54 Viewers)
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Can Juventus end Cup hoodoo?
As preparations continue for the Champions League Final, Luca Cetta recalls Juventus’ poor record in Europe’s biggest match.
Having already secured a fourth successive Scudetto, last week’s Coppa Italia Final proved a memorable occasion for Juventus. It was a first triumph in the competition since Marcello Lippi led his team to a domestic double in 1995.
Giorgio Chiellini said afterwards the Final had “given us good practice for the Champions League.” Its value should not be discounted. Twenty years without success, it had been almost as long since Juve last won a knockout competition – the 1996 Champions League.
Winning League titles is one thing. Cup competitions are a different animal. Just ask Carlo Ancelotti. Since 1996, the Bianconeri have won multiple championships. Success in Europe, however, has eluded them.
That’s been a consistent theme throughout the years, especially in the Champions League. Berlin will be Juve’s eighth Final. They have won twice. Arguably the Turin giants could – and should – have more titles to their name. Giampiero Boniperti coined the oft-repeated phrase “At Juventus winning isn’t important, it’s the only thing that matters”, yet the Cup has not called Turin home as often as one might think. This is despite success in four of five other finals between UEFA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup action.
Juventus first reached the European Cup decider in 1973. In Belgrade the Turin club stood in the way of all-conquering Ajax’s third successive crown. It took just four minutes for Johnny Rep to loop a header over Dino Zoff. The Old Lady could not respond.
It would take a decade to return. Opponents in Athens were Hamburg and this time Juve started as favourites. Giovanni Trapattoni’s side was packed with six World Champions and impressive foreign duo Michel Platini and Zbigniew Boniek. Another early goal – from Felix Magath – led to another defeat, Juventus unable to shake the steely Hamburg rearguard.
So when two years later Juve travelled to Brussels the anticipation was huge. Up against holders Liverpool, it was to be a clash between two of Europe’s heavyweights. The Bianconeri won 1-0 with a Platini penalty, except the game was a footnote to the tragedy earlier in the evening. Thirty-nine people died after a wall collapsed at the dilapidated Heysel Stadium as fans tried to escape advancing Liverpool supporters. The match was played only to maintain public order. After years of trying Juventus finally had its hands on the trophy, but there was little to celebrate.
That’s what made Rome in 1996 so special. When Vladimir Jugovic dispatched the winning penalty in the shootout against Ajax the celebration was intense. Juventus were absolutely determined to win the trophy. After Fabrizio Ravanelli’s opener from a near-impossible angle was cancelled out by Jari Litmanen, penalties were required. The Bianconeri were perfect from the spot. This time, victory was sweet.
It could have been followed by more. Juventus dominated the mid-1990s as Lippi guided a star-studded team containing the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Zinedine Zidane, Angelo Peruzzi and Ciro Ferrara. But successive Final losses were sour points.
Twice Juventus started as favourites. In 1997 they faced Borussia Dortmund in Munich, but was stunned by Karl-Heinz Riedle’s first-half double. Del Piero pulled a goal back only for a sublime Lars Ricken sealer. In Amsterdam 12 months later Juve aimed to atone against Real Madrid. The stars did not align as Predrag Mijatovic scored the only goal.
Juventus would be part of the first ever all-Italian showdown against Milan in Manchester in 2003. A Bianconeri bereft of suspended star Pavel Nedved looked a shadow of the side which eliminated Real Madrid. The match went the distance and as Lippi recalls, he struggled to find players willing to step up to the spot. It showed as Juve lost a fifth Final.
Twelve years later Juventus are back. The Turin club will start as outsiders in Berlin – “less than a 35 per cent chance” according to Gianluigi Buffon – against a Barcelona side which looks a more menacing prospect than the one which conquered Europe in 2009 and 2011. It will be tough to stop. Lazio may not be the same calibre of opponent, but emerging victorious in the Coppa will have been a boost.
“There is no specific method to win a Final,” Allegri stated on the weekend. “It is important to play the game on the field and not beforehand.”
Already one of Juve’s most successful seasons, the club is eyeing the Olympiastadion as the setting for an historic treble. Can the Old Lady banish the ghosts of Finals past to make their eighth appearance unforgettable?
