TURIN, Italy (AP) -Juventus' loss to Napoli in the Italian Cup might be a sign of things to come this season.
Relegated to Serie B with a 17-point penalty for its leading role in the Italian match-fixing scandal, the powerhouse could be hard-pressed to fight with teams like Napoli, Genoa and Bologna to gain promotion back to Serie A.
Before the loss to Napoli, Juve had to come back from a goal down to eke out a 2-1 win at Cesena, another Serie B club, in the previous round of the Italian Cup.
"We're going to have to get used to playing in stadiums and against teams like that,'' coach Didier Deschamps said. "Everyone wants to play the game of their life against Juve.''
Deschamps' team is missing half of last season's starting lineup. The scandal sentence produced a mass exodus with Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, Emerson, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all leaving Turin.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, midfielders Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi, and forwards David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero remained.
"Buffon, Nedved and everyone else that stayed made a courageous choice,'' club captain Del Piero said. "The club is going through a delicate phase, the most delicate in its history. My relationship with the team and the fans is special and I didn't want to give it up.''
Del Piero is more excited about this season than last, when he clashed with Fabio Capello.
"Last year I wasn't able to enjoy myself. Now the conditions are right and we can still win,'' Del Piero said.
Besides Deschamps, new arrivals include defender Jean-Alain Boumsong (from Newcastle), midfielders Marco Marchionni (Parma) and Cristiano Zanetti (Inter), and striker Valeri Bojinov (Fiorentina).
Boumsong is already being hailed as a new Thuram, for whom he was an understudy for France.
"He's a real defender, very strong and with national team experience,'' Deschamps said.
With Ibrahimovic gone, Del Piero has regained a full-time starting job. And Deschamps doesn't plan on using Del Piero in a winger's role like Capello sometimes did.
"To me, he's a forward. He expresses himself best as a second striker,'' Deschamps said of Del Piero. "He's not a classic No. 10, because a classic No. 10 plays behind two men. He's practically a nine and a half. The closer Del Piero is to the goal the better he is.''
Trezeguet and Bojinov are the other forwards.
"It's the first time I've been coached by an ex-teammate and I'm not sure yet how it will go, but the initial feelings are very good,'' Del Piero said. "That's the position where I express myself best and where I've scored many goals.''
Banned from European play, Juve should have its complete focus on the league.
The bianconeri will have a big target on their backs, with little-known teams like Crotone, Albinoleffe and Frosinone already circling Juventus on their league calendars.
"Serie B is also a fairly difficult league,'' Buffon said. "But I think we have a roster with enough quality that we can do fairly well.''
Relegated to Serie B with a 17-point penalty for its leading role in the Italian match-fixing scandal, the powerhouse could be hard-pressed to fight with teams like Napoli, Genoa and Bologna to gain promotion back to Serie A.
Before the loss to Napoli, Juve had to come back from a goal down to eke out a 2-1 win at Cesena, another Serie B club, in the previous round of the Italian Cup.
"We're going to have to get used to playing in stadiums and against teams like that,'' coach Didier Deschamps said. "Everyone wants to play the game of their life against Juve.''
Deschamps' team is missing half of last season's starting lineup. The scandal sentence produced a mass exodus with Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram, Emerson, Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all leaving Turin.
Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, midfielders Pavel Nedved and Mauro Camoranesi, and forwards David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero remained.
"Buffon, Nedved and everyone else that stayed made a courageous choice,'' club captain Del Piero said. "The club is going through a delicate phase, the most delicate in its history. My relationship with the team and the fans is special and I didn't want to give it up.''
Del Piero is more excited about this season than last, when he clashed with Fabio Capello.
"Last year I wasn't able to enjoy myself. Now the conditions are right and we can still win,'' Del Piero said.
Besides Deschamps, new arrivals include defender Jean-Alain Boumsong (from Newcastle), midfielders Marco Marchionni (Parma) and Cristiano Zanetti (Inter), and striker Valeri Bojinov (Fiorentina).
Boumsong is already being hailed as a new Thuram, for whom he was an understudy for France.
"He's a real defender, very strong and with national team experience,'' Deschamps said.
With Ibrahimovic gone, Del Piero has regained a full-time starting job. And Deschamps doesn't plan on using Del Piero in a winger's role like Capello sometimes did.
"To me, he's a forward. He expresses himself best as a second striker,'' Deschamps said of Del Piero. "He's not a classic No. 10, because a classic No. 10 plays behind two men. He's practically a nine and a half. The closer Del Piero is to the goal the better he is.''
Trezeguet and Bojinov are the other forwards.
"It's the first time I've been coached by an ex-teammate and I'm not sure yet how it will go, but the initial feelings are very good,'' Del Piero said. "That's the position where I express myself best and where I've scored many goals.''
Banned from European play, Juve should have its complete focus on the league.
The bianconeri will have a big target on their backs, with little-known teams like Crotone, Albinoleffe and Frosinone already circling Juventus on their league calendars.
"Serie B is also a fairly difficult league,'' Buffon said. "But I think we have a roster with enough quality that we can do fairly well.''
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