Battle of the 'champions’ Friday 11 August, 2006
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Juventus and Inter will meet in Naples tonight in the first meeting between the two sides since the Scudetto was reassigned to the Nerazzurri.
The duo will compete for the Trofeo Moretti, along with hosts and holders Napoli, just weeks after the Old Lady was stripped of the 2006-07 title which Inter were awarded following the Calciopoli probe.
That decision has frustrated many in Turin and they have the chance to vent their anger against their eternal 'derby d’Italia’ rivals on Friday.
The fact that Inter are also the club that have recently signed Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both unwilling to play in Serie B with La Vecchia Signora, will add extra spice.
The tournament, now in its tenth year, will take place at the San Paolo Stadium and will stage three 45-minute clashes.
Inter boss Roberto Mancini is expected to experiment with a 4-3-3 formation at times with a trident consisting of Adriano, Julio Cruz and Aparecido Cesar.
The Bianconeri, still without many of their World Cup players such as Gigi Buffon and Alex Del Piero, will be fielded in a Didier Deschamps trademark 4-4-2.
Valeri Bojinov and Marcelo Zalayeta will form an attacking pair, aided by Pavel Nedved and Marco Marchionni on the flanks.
Napoli boss Edy Reja, whose club should be protagonists in the Second Division alongside Juve this season, is set to be adventurous too.
New signing Roberto De Zerbi will be asked to play behind strikers Emanuele Calaiò and Christian Bucchi, who have both impressed in this summer’s previous friendlies.
Past winners:
1997 Juventus
1998 Udinese
1999 Parma
2000 Juventus
2001 Inter
2002 Inter
2003 Juventus
2004 Juventus
2005 Napoli
Sorry 2006 JUVENTUS!
Football Italia