[CL] Rapid - Juventus (1 Viewer)

[Rainforest Liu]

Capello: “We’ll have a top level line-up”

As in his tradition, Fabio Capello is not giving out the line-up he has chosen to play against Rapid Vienna but he anticipated something: “We won’t make much use of turnover but I’ll do change something. After two matches, it is necessary to field fresh players on slow playgrounds. I’ll make some substitutions but we’ll still have a top level line-up”. About their opponents: “At home – he explained – they caused problems to anyone, to Club Brugge and Bayern. When they play at home they change completely, they get very dangerous, with fast and good players”.

He was asked if the weather conditions (pouring rain) can cause the game any trouble. And he answered: “No, the field is fast, it will be alright”. And, following this question, he recalls a precedent that dates back to when he was a Juventus player and that time the conditions were quite particular: “It was the Uefa Cup 1971-1972, we won thanks to a goal scored by Bettega in front of 274 spectators, 250 of whom had arrived from Italy. It had snowed all night long and while we were coming out to play the snow were still being shovelled off the field”.

 

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[Rainforest Liu]

Capello: “We’ll have a top level line-up”

As in his tradition, Fabio Capello is not giving out the line-up he has chosen to play against Rapid Vienna but he anticipated something: “We won’t make much use of turnover but I’ll do change something. After two matches, it is necessary to field fresh players on slow playgrounds. I’ll make some substitutions but we’ll still have a top level line-up”. About their opponents: “At home – he explained – they caused problems to anyone, to Club Brugge and Bayern. When they play at home they change completely, they get very dangerous, with fast and good players”.

He was asked if the weather conditions (pouring rain) can cause the game any trouble. And he answered: “No, the field is fast, it will be alright”. And, following this question, he recalls a precedent that dates back to when he was a Juventus player and that time the conditions were quite particular: “It was the Uefa Cup 1971-1972, we won thanks to a goal scored by Bettega in front of 274 spectators, 250 of whom had arrived from Italy. It had snowed all night long and while we were coming out to play the snow were still being shovelled off the field”.

 

[Bjerknes]

Liu, we got it the first time. Some of us don't have to read everything three times just to comprehend it..

 

[Rainforest Liu]

Rapid Wien vs Juventus 1-3

Juventus win at Wien, Bayern earn a draw at Bruges and Capello’s side is first-ranked in Champions League in his group with 15 points. The win is signed by Ibrahimovic and Del Piero, who, with tonight’s two goals, achieves 182 goals scored with the Bianconeri jersey.

A big audience has gathered at the Ernst Happel stadium for the last match of phase one between Rapid Wien and Juventus. The home team has already missed qualifications for the next round but local supporters don’t want to miss the game with Juventus who, after qualifying for round two, are now competing to lead Group A. The match is much struggled, both defences are careful and at the start few are the scoring occasions. The first, after 8 minutes, is on Capello’s side: Ibrahimovic makes a good opening for Vieira, anticipated by the goalkeeper. Then it’s Ivanschitz who engages Abbiati in a couple of occasions. The first after 26 minutes with a free kick saved by the Bianconero goalkeeper who pushes the ball over the crossbar. The second occurs on 33’ minutes with a header cleared by Abbiati with a two-time save. On 35’ minutes, Juventus take the lead thanks to a fantastic free kick by Del Piero from a 30-metre range (1-0). The Bianconeri are firmly in control of the game and on 41’ minutes Ibrahimovic give Juventus the second goal: a great personal action of the Swede who slips past two opponents and beats Payer with a perfect and powerful left-footed shot (2-0). The 3-0 arrive on 45’ minutes and the scorer is again Del Piero who deflects on goal Ibrahimovic’s shot from the edge of the box. And it’s Alex’s 182th goal with the Juventus jersey.

The second half starts with Zalayeta replacing Ibrahimovic. Rapid Wien make no substitution and they try to get dangerous after 5 minutes into the second half with Ivanschitz, whose shot is saved by Abbiati. They reduce their gap on 7’ minutes with Kincl who, served by Hlinka, scores with a right-footed shot (1-3). The home side gets dangerous again in a couple of occasions but Abbiati is ready to counter. On 15’ minutes, Juventus attack: Chiellini crosses for Zalayeta but his header is saved by Payer. The game continues to be struggled in the midfield but thrills lack. In the final minutes, Juventus try to increase their spoils with Del Piero but his turn on the shot from the edge of the penalty area ends high over the crossbar. Rapid react with Ivanschitz but his finish ends out of the goalline. It ends 3-1 for the Bianconeri who will now be waiting for the last sixteen tie draw that will take place on December 16th .

RAPID WIEN vs JUVENTUS

GOALS: 35’fh and 45’fh Del Piero, 41’fh Ibrahimovic, 7’sh Kincl

RAPID WIEN: Payer; Dober, Hiden, Valachovic, Katzer; Korsos (35’sh Martinez), Hlinka, Ivanschitz, Hofman; Kincl, Akangunduz (40’sh Kienast). Coach: Hickerseberger. Substitutions: Hedl, Labant, Garics, Dollinger, Beibl
JUVENTUS: Abbiati; Balzaretti, Kovac, Thuram, Chiellini; Camoranesi (33’sh Giannichedda), Blasi, Vieira, Mutu (16’sh Pessotto); Del Piero, Ibrahimovic (1’sh Zalayeta). Coach: Capello
Substitutions: Chimenti, Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Trezeguet.
REFEREE: Jaroslav Jára (CZE)
YELLOW CARDS: 28’fh Thuram, 18’sh Camoranesi

 

[Rainforest Liu]

Capello: “Aim achieved”

“I’m happy about what we showed. We performed a great first half then we relaxed in the second half and conceded an inevitable goal.” Fabio Capello, being such a perfectionist, can find some flaws even in a top level performance like Juventus’s at Vienna tonight: the squad’s less aggressive attitude in the second half. Anyway, the coach is much satisfied with the result achieved and with the first place in Group A: “I’m sorry about the goal conceded but we’re happy we’ve achieved our first aim, that is being first in the Group. In any case, we’ll be looking at the draw with great attention as there are some dangerous second-ranked, like Chelsea and Real Madrid”.

 

[Maher]

Rapid Vienna 1 - 3 Juventus
Del Piero 35, 45 (J), Ibrahimovic 42 (J), Kincl 52 (R)
Ernst Happel Stadium

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Alessandro Del Piero matched the all-time record for Juve goals and ensured they topped Group A with a 3-1 win in Vienna.

The Bianconeri were already qualified for the final 16, but were challenging Bayern Munich for leadership of Group A - and the role of seeds in the draw for the knockout round. Nonetheless, Fabio Capello rested several stars in defence and midfield, while Gianluigi Buffon opted not to start in goal after recovering from a shoulder injury.

Juve had a good chance after eight minutes, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic sprinted down the flank and rolled across for Patrick Vieira, who came sliding in and just failed to make enough contact to truly worry Helge Payer.

Katzer's first touch let him down in a promising position, while Ivanschitz forced Abbiati into a tough save to tip his free kick over the crossbar.

The Juventus goalkeeper was again tested by Ivanschitz, whose header was parried with a diving save and Abbiati did well to take the loose ball off the feet of Akaguenduez.

But it was the Bianconeri who opened the scoring soon after with Alessandro Del Piero. The captain curled in a precise free kick from 30 metres that dipped over the wall and into the top far corner of the net.

Ibrahimovic doubled their lead before Rapid had time to react. He controlled Del Piero's pass on the edge of the area and rifled in an unstoppable left-foot strike.

Del Piero also scored a brace against Rapid Vienna in 1996 and repeated the trick by netting on the stroke of half-time. This time the two players exchanged roles, as Ibrahimovic provided the assist for the Italian international to tap in from close range, although it was probably a mis-hit shot.

It was a special goal for Del Piero, who matched the legendary Giampiero Boniperti's record of 182 official goals in a Juventus jersey. It was also his 37th in the Champions League.

Ibrahimovic was rested for the second half and made way for Marcelo Zalayeta. Ivanschitz remained the most dangerous Rapid player and his left-foot strike was well saved by Abbiati.

When the Austrians did eventually get a goal back, it was from Kincl. A corner kick was not cleared effectively and Marek Kincl drilled in the loose ball from close range.

Abbiati was kept busy with another Akaguenduez strike, while at the other end Zalayeta's header on a Giorgio Chiellini cross was comfortably gathered. Rapid were pushing to end their campaign with a positive result, so Gianluca Pessotto replaced Adrian Mutu for a more solid midfield.

Dober's attempt was deflected by Robert Kovac, but not enough to trouble Abbiati.

As Bayern Munich were held 1-1 by Club Brugge, Juventus top Group A and will be seeds in the draw for the knockout round.

<Post-Match Comments>


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Rapid Vienna: Payer; Dober, Hiden, Valachovic, Katzer; Korsos (Martinez 80), Hlinka, Hofmann, Ivanschitz; Kincl, Akaguenduez (Kienast 84)

Juventus: Abbiati; Balzaretti, Kovac, Thuram, Chiellini; Camoranesi (Giannichedda 78), Blasi, Vieira, Mutu (Pessotto 61); Del Piero, Ibrahimovic (Zalayeta 46)

 

[Wings]

Unfortunately the score in this game does not exactly reflect our performance on the pitch. For long periods of the game we were completely outplayed by Rapid who should only blame themselves for lack of self belief. Our defense was lethargic & Thuram had to cover all the areas at times. The midfield was static and lost too many balls. Forwards were brilliant today & that's what saved us.
Abbiati - 6
Had some decent saves & I was actually starting to have some belief in him then he does an incredibly stupid thing. Rushes out without reason & completely misses the ball.
Chiellini - 5
Another bad day at the office. All he seems to do is hack the ball forward and give terrible passes. This is accentuated by his totally irrational tackles.
Kovac - 6
Decent game but looked rusty.
Thuram - 6.5
Covered the whole defense. Was there when Balza had problems, ditto Chiellini & Kovac. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do to prevent Blasi's poor clearance from being poached.
Balzaretti - 6
Full of nervous energy. Mental preparation for the game was lacking but he did ok. Nothing spectacular and he can only improve. My suggestion is to stick him on the right & bring back Zambrotta on the left.
Mutu - 4.5
Not his day. Everything he did lost us the ball. I would have loved to see him behind DP & Zlatan.
Blasi - 4.5
Had a bout of nerves. Running everywhere just to mess things up.
Veira - 5
Is he still injured? Suddenly it seems like he is reluctant to play. One wrong pass almost cost us dear. Get back Patrick we will be needing you soon.
Camoranesi - 6
Did well, nothing out of the ordinary. Had some lovely combinations with Zlatan.
Del Piero - 7
Stunner of a free kick! Didn't do much but you can't blame him as the service was poor.
Zlatan - 6.5
Good half and a lovely goal to boot. I just hope his shooting stays same. The nutmeg move was awesome & should have led to a goal.
Zalayeta - 5
Just could not get into this game.

Capello - 5
Why don't you give Balzaretti the same chance as Chiellini? Playing Mutu on the left wing with Chiellini for support is a no no. Rapid was the weakest team in our group why not play a more offensive game & take charge of the match. Suggested formation:-
-------------Abbiati-----------
Balza----Thuram----Kovac----Zambro
Camo----------Veira----------Pessoto
-----------------Mutu---------------------
------------Zlatan-------DP--------------

 

[Bjerknes]

Mutu doesn't deserve the same score as Blasi IMO. The latter was just absolutely terrible..

 

[sidicx_no10]

Good Match with brilliant performance by DP. I hope next goal to 183-....

Del Piero is a Legend......!!

 

[Wings]

Mutu doesn't deserve the same score as Blasi IMO. The latter was just absolutely terrible..

I gave them the same score because IMO I think Mutu could have done a whole lot better while Blasi's performance is just status quo.

 

[Wings]

Good Match with brilliant performance by DP. I hope next goal to 183-....

Del Piero is a Legend......!!

Did we watch the same game? Terrible match but yes brilliant free kick by DP.

 

[giovanotti]

Unfortunately the score in this game does not exactly reflect our performance on the pitch. For long periods of the game we were completely outplayed by Rapid who should only blame themselves for lack of self belief. Our defense was lethargic & Thuram had to cover all the areas at times. The midfield was static and lost too many balls. Forwards were brilliant today & that's what saved us.
Abbiati - 6
Had some decent saves & I was actually starting to have some belief in him then he does an incredibly stupid thing. Rushes out without reason & completely misses the ball.
Chiellini - 5
Another bad day at the office. All he seems to do is hack the ball forward and give terrible passes. This is accentuated by his totally irrational tackles.
Kovac - 6
Decent game but looked rusty.
Thuram - 6.5
Covered the whole defense. Was there when Balza had problems, ditto Chiellini & Kovac. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do to prevent Blasi poor clearance from being poached.
Balzaretti - 6
Full of nervous energy. Mental preparation for the game was lacking but he did ok. Nothing spectacular but he can only improve. My suggestion is to stick him on the right & bring back Zambrotta on the left.
Mutu - 4.5
Not his day. Everything he did lost us the ball. I would have loved to see him behind DP & Zlatan.
Blasi - 4.5
Had a bout of nerves. Running everywhere just to mess things up.
Veira - 5
Is he still injured? Suddenly it seems like he is reluctant to play. One wrong pass almost cost us dear. Get back Patrick we will be needing you soon.
Camoranesi - 6
Did well, nothing out of the ordinary. Had some lovely combinations with Zlatan.
Del Piero - 7
Stunner of a free kick! Didn't do much but you can't blame as the service was poor.
Zlatan - 6.5
Good half and a lovely goal to boot. I just hope his shooting stays same. The nutmeg move was awesome & should have led to a goal.

Capello - 5
Why don't you give Balzaretti the same chance as Chiellini? Playing Mutu on the left wing with Chiellini for support is a no no. Rapid was the weakest team in our group why not play a more offensive game & take charge of the match. Suggested formation:-
-------------Abbiati-----------
Balza----Thuram----Kovac----Zambro
Camo----------Veira----------Pessoto
-----------------Mutu---------------------
------------Zlatan-------DP--------------

I think you missed Zalayeta,he played all the second half.

 

[Wings]

I think you missed Zalayeta,he played all the second half.

Thats how bad he was

 

[giovanotti]

Thats how bad he was

 

[Holygr4le]

Thanks @ Denco, Andy and Ali for the reviews.

Andy&#8230;, pure class!
Almost thought I wrote it for a while.

 

[A_LAcki]

good stuff, man !!!:thumbs: :thumbs:

I hope you could transfer some of that video here, so everyone could see...

I will do so, if anyone can tell me how I can get my video tape on the PC and upload it??? PLEASE HELP!

However, yesterday at the stadium it was SIMPLY GREAT and you guys will NEVER EVER believe what I have done. But lets start at the beginning:

I had my ticket for the game, but I didn't want to see it in the Rapid section, I wanted to sit with Drughi and the Fighters. So I asked one of the Stewards if he could help me, and I even wanted to give him money, if he could take me to the Juve section. However, this bitch wouldn't even help me for 20€, so I had to find another way. My real sit, would have been a few rows in front of the Juve fans, but I wanted to be part of this group. So I went to the fence, which seperated the Juve fans from the Rapid fans. There was a policeman, and I asked him, if I could come over to the Juve section, but he said no, and was already very pissed. So I was standing in front of the fence and, without the 5 beer before the match I would have never done this, had the idea to climb over it, so I went further left, away from the police, to find a place to climb over the fence. I watched the policemen, and when they weren't looking, I simply climbed over it (well, it was more a combination of jumping and climbing). The Juvefans, watched me and when I was suddenly standing in their sector, they were all looking at me, and when I said "Juve per sempre", they knew that I was on their side. I somehow injured myself at this action. My jeans was ruined (on the top of the fence were little sticks, I don't know how to call it, who really hurt), I was full of blood on my ass, because one of that sticks simply found grip on my ass and I seriously hurt my left hand. I watched my hand, and saw a really really bad wound. I saw it, and knew that it had to be sewed, but I simply put my scarf around my hand, and so I could concentrate on singing with the Juve fans, who were really great. There were also a lot of Legia Warschau fans, a club that has a great friendship with the Juve fans, so I (as a Polish man) could talk to them in Polish and I talked with the Juve fans in English. One of them, he was really great, tought me all the choirs (my favourite is the Zlatan song and the great Del Piero song) and another one really made my day. He was simply standing next to me, and at the break I showed him my hand, and said:" Look what I have done for Juve." He saw it and suddenly had another look, which told me that he didn't like my wound, but he was really kind, because he told me that he has never seen something before and he also saw my climbing action, and he was kind of a Drughi or one of the leaders of the Drughi, because he gave me a DRUGHI JACKET, and told me that I should take it as a present. Man, I put it on and I was so proud. With the Juve fans in sector wearing a Drughi jacket and singing (Alessandro Del Piero ale, ......).

Now I know that this sounds really unrealistic and most will say, damn this A_LAcki should stop smoking shit, but I have proof for everything, and I will upload three videos (one when I met the team, and two I made inside of the stadium) and I will make some pics of my new jacket and my signed Zlatan jersey. I will open a thread than in the Multimedia section. But the video when I met the players, is the best on this planet. Trezeguet is looking straight into the cam for 3 or 4 seconds. TOO COOL!

I am off for now, cause its not so easy to write with 1 1/2 hands

P.S.: After the match I was transfered to a hospital where they sewed my wound and than I went to a party of one of my friends. They were simply amazed!!

 

[Erkka]

Good for you, but the thing is that Fighters doesn't exist anymore.

 

[A_LAcki]

Good for you, but the thing is that Fighters doesn't exist anymore.

Yeah I was wondering. I thought they were both here, but I only saw Drughi and couldn't find any fighters. When did they split or whatever?

 

[Erkka]

I'll pm you later A_LAcki if that's okay for you, I've got to run now.

 

[A_LAcki]

4 sure, and...................run Erkka, run