Capello: Fortune favours the brave Tuesday 7 March, 2006
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Fabio Capello and Emerson admit they were rescued by a goalkeeping error, but insist Juventus deserved to go through.
“Bremen are a good side and we mustn’t forget that, especially as the Germans are fresh from a long Winter break and physically strong anyway. We knew they weren’t all that good in defence, but the goalkeeper performed miracles before luck finally turned our way,” said the Coach after the 2-1 win in Turin qualified them on away goals, 4-4 on aggregate.
The Bianconeri were repeatedly caught in Bremen’s offside trap and eventually broke through with David Trezeguet before Emerson’s last-gasp winner.
“Evidently, our desire to score at all costs made us too hasty and we made some mistakes in the final ball and in our movement. We needed to change our style a little, but the team played well overall and admittedly got through thanks to a goalkeeping error.”
Tim Wiese had been heading for a Man of the Match award after a series of stunning saves, but it was his howler that allowed Juve to win.
“He was following Oliver Kahn’s style of rolling around, it seems to be a German trend. These things can happen, but as a Coach I tend to get more irritated by tactical mistakes than fumbles,” added Capello.
The tactical changes after 55 minutes saw Alessandro Del Piero and Adrian Mutu replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Mauro Camoranesi.
“Ibrahimovic is carrying a knee problem and hasn’t been training regularly, while Del Piero has played a lot recently and wasn’t 100 per cent either, but he is very good at springing the offside trap. As for Camoranesi, Mutu is faster and I needed his pace to again try to break that system of theirs.”
Patrick Vieira was singled out for criticism from the Italian Press for his recent performances, but Capello insisted it was undeserved.
“I think that Vieira played well tonight. I see that people have focused on him too much, exaggerating praise when he first arrived and over-doing the criticism now. He made a few mistakes, but so did everyone tonight.”
Villarreal also pushed past Glasgow Rangers on away goals, while Barcelona knocked out Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp.
“The knock-out rounds are all very tough and played at a high tempo against teams of great quality. They probably paid the price for the first leg and Barca have players of incredible talent like Ronaldinho,” concluded Capello.
Emerson scored the winner in the final minute when he pounced on a goalkeeping howler, but admits the real hero was Fabio Cannavaro.
“I honestly hadn’t noticed he’d dropped it, but Cannavaro shouted at me and I looked down to see the ball at my feet! Thankfully, I had time and was close enough to turn,” confessed the Brazilian.
It was a disappointing first half and the midfielder agrees that it must serve as a lesson to them.
“We took the wrong approach from the start. We have to change the way we go into Champions League matches, as in this competition you are punished at the first error. Nonetheless, we created a dozen chances and the goalkeeper performed miracles, so it’s not as if this win was undeserved.”
There was a noticeable tension about their performance, which only intensified after Johan Micoud gave Bremen a 4-2 aggregate lead after just 13 minutes.
“There is always a sense of worry, as we had to win to qualify and Bremen scored early on, but this is a team that proved it has character and never gives in.”
Cannavaro also gave his side of the story when recounting that incredible last-gasp goal.
“Emerson had his back to the ball, so I shouted ‘Puma!’ and thankfully he heard me and managed to score! We all knew how important this game was, but our tempo was slow and Bremen closed up all the spaces, so all we could do was play the long ball.
"We were nervous after what happened last season against Liverpool, but we found a victory nobody was expecting at that point. We may not be all that sharp at the moment, but this side tends to come out in the second half and make a difference.”
Director Antonio Giraudo admitted he was holding his breath in those closing stages.
“It was a very exciting finale and thankfully at the final whistle we achieved a very important result. The goalkeeper was over-doing it all night! He performed some incredible saves, but perhaps made the mistake of thinking he was invincible at that stage of the game. It would’ve been a heavy sporting and financial blow if we had gone out, as the Champions League is one of our primary objectives this season.”
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