Zeman: Alex is a victim Saturday 13 November, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zdenek Zeman has again turned on Juventus ahead of Sunday’s clash, claiming Alex Del Piero is “a victim” of the Turin giants.
The controversial Coach sparked law suits and a legal investigation into Juve’s medical staff after telling newspapers he was amazed at the sudden muscular development of players such as Del Piero and Gianluca Vialli.
“I have no problem with Del Piero personally,” assured Zeman ahead of tomorrow’s crunch match. “He and the other players are not guilty of anything, as they are victims rather than perpetrators.”
These statements are sure to cause yet more problems for the Lecce boss, who first made similar allegations six years ago.
“Football has changed a lot since 1998, but the problems remain the same, both in terms of doping and the financial well-being of clubs.”
Nonetheless, Zeman tried to concentrate on the match between the Serie A leaders and high-flying Southerners.
“This is not a game between Zeman and Juventus,” he assured, “but rather between Lecce and the Bianconeri. I’ve even called up Axel Konan as he scored two goals against them last season, so perhaps they’ll get scared just by seeing him again.”
There are fears this long-awaited encounter between Serie A’s most prolific teams won’t go ahead at all due to heavy rainfall that flooded the Stadio Via del Mare today.
“I would have wanted to play this game on a perfect pitch,” concluded the former Roma and Lazio Coach, “but unfortunately the weather has not been kind. I hope one day synthetic pitches can be commonplace, as they would solve so many problems.”