Soccerage.com predicts Depor goes through. Last year soccerage has been very exact in their CL predictions, with the exception of... Juventus - Real Madrid encounter. I hope our tradition against the Spanish teams continues this year.
03/08/2004. This is a tough one to call. Should Depor score an away goal the tie will surely be theirs. But if they don't, Juve should shade it. We'll take the Spanish to lose 2-1, but still go through
Stewart Coggin
http://www.soccerage.com/en/13/t7071.html
Here is their preview:
03/08/2004. BACKGROUND
It's all or nothing for these familiar Champions league foes as they face off once again in this second round second-leg clash.
Deportivo lead 1-0 from the first-leg, but many critics felt they were worthy of a bigger lead. They were by far and away the better team at the Riazor against a Juventus side who lacked ambition and rarely looked like scoring an away goal. Depor worked so hard in midfield, once again looked a strong defensive unit, and posed a significant threat to the Juve back-line, especially with goalscorer Alberto Luque who had a fine match.
Juve's defensive problems were again at the fore as they defeated Brescia 3-2 at the weekend. 2-0 down, they had to rely on a generous penalty decision and a distinctly offside-looking Marco Di Vaio strike to haul themselves back into the match. There was no argument about Pavel Nedved's winner, however. Another stunning strike that the Czech can add to his scrapbook of spectacular gaols.
Questions must be asked of Depor's physical level coming into this one. They had to play the bulk of Saturday's 3-0 defeat to Valencia with ten-men after Mauro Silva's first-half red card. They never gave up, however, and certainly didn't deserve to lose by such a margin against a Valencia side who put in a stuttering second-half display and scored two of their three goals in the dying embers of the match.
LATEST TEAM NEWS
Juventus: Enzo Maresca, David Trezeguet, Gianluca Zambrotta, Igor Tudor and Alessandro Birindelli are all out injured for the Bianconeri, while Antonio Conte is suspended after picking up a booking in the first-leg.
Deportivo: Joan Capdevila is set to replace Enrique Romero at left-back, while the more defensively minded Aldo Duscher could come in for Sergio. Victor could feature out on the right, but then again Javier Irureta may decide to play Manuel Pablo in that position in order to track the runs of Pavel Nedved.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus): it's not been a vintage season for Del Piero but the big players produce on the big occasion.
Jorge Andrade (Deportivo): the big Portuguese centre-back will be charged with keeping the likes of Del Piero and Marco Di Vaio at bay.
PROBABLE LINE-UPS
Juventus Turнn: Buffon; Ferrara, Thuram, Montero, Pessotto; Camoranesi, Tacchinardi, Appiah, Nedved; Di Vaio, Del Piero.
Deportivo Coruсa: Molina; Scaloni, Andrade, Naybet, Capdevila; Mauro Silva, Sergio or Duscher; Vнctor or Manuel Pablo, Valerуn, Luque; Tristбn.
Stewart Coggin
http://www.soccerage.com/en/13/t7064.html