Minus 1 is Plus 4 For Juve
02/27/2000. A ten-man Juventus resorted to its renowned team spirit to deal a severe blow to AS Roma�s title chances and to widen the gap at the top of the Serie A with Lazio and Milan trailing by four and five points respectively.
When five minutes from the break with the score at one apiece, Uruguayan defender Pablo Montero handled a ball that was bound towards AS Roma�s skipper Totti and forced referee Braschi to extract the red card, the destiny of the game seemed decided.
Had it not been for Van der Sar�s bravery and quick reflexes in the dying minutes of the first half, Hidetoshi Nakata and Aldair would have probably put the result beyond Juventus� reach. A fruitful second half loomed for the quick and reactive Romans.
But a few seconds into the second period, the unpredictability that makes football such a wonderful affair struck big time. The newcomer Birindelli burst along the right flank and swung in a cross that hit Aldair, looped over Antonioli and landed on the quick foot of the opportunistic Inzaghi that sent the home crowd berserk.
The first forty-five minutes were tense and punctuated by twenty-five fouls, the home side opened the scoring on thirty minutes as two successive Conte�s deliveries were only cleared as far as Davids and the rasping volley of the Dutch found Antonioli�s bottom corner. Capello�s men were left furious as they protested � and with some right too � that in their previous attacking action Delvecchio was tripped by Tacchinardi inside the penalty box.
Seven minutes later, however, Roma equalised thanks to a training session action, when Montella touched for Delvecchio who hooked the ball acrobatically and sent a low diagonal shot past Van der Sar. After Inzaghi�s goal and until the end of the showdown Roma tried, pushed forward in numbers to support Poggi, Montella, Delvecchio and Totti, but apart from a couple of half chances they could not breach the resilient defence of the �black and white�.
