Nedved misses Inter clash
Saturday 3 April, 2004
Pavel Nedved and Lilian Thuram are officially ruled out of Sunday’s Derby d’Italia, as Juve experiment with an attacking line-up.
The Czech international has been struggling with fitness problems throughout the campaign, but was unable to recover from back pain in time for this weekend.
Thuram has also been finding it difficult to find his form due to a series of physical worries and is out with a thigh problem.
The good news for Coach Marcello Lippi is that Paolo Montero, Mark Iuliano and Nicola Legrottaglie all return from injury to shore up the defence.
The Bianconeri have called a total of 18 players, including two youth team players, for this historically tense encounter.
It is reported that Lippi will test out a new system in the absence of Alessandro Del Piero and Nedved.
He aims to launch an all-out attack on Inter with Italy’s midweek hero Fabrizio Miccoli, Mauro Camoranesi and Enzo Maresca supporting lone striker David Trezeguet.
Marco Di Vaio is another option, as he has now recovered from an infection that ruled him out of Wednesday’s 2-1 win in Portugal.
Juventus squad: 1 Gianluigi BUFFON, 3 Alessio TACCHINARDI, 4 Paolo MONTERO, 5 Igor TUDOR, 7 Gianluca PESSOTTO, 8 Antonio CONTE, 9 Fabrizio MICCOLI, 13 Mark IULIANO, 14 Enzo MARESCA, 15 Alessandro BIRINDELLI, 16 Mauro CAMORANESI, 17 David TREZEGUET, 18 Stephen APPIAH, 19 Gianluca ZAMBROTTA, 20 Marco DI VAIO, 22 Antonio MIRANTE, 23 Nicola LEGROTTAGLIE, 34 David CHIUMIENTO