UEFA CUP: Woeful Juventus Thrashed 4-0 By Celta
Copyright � 2000 Nando Media
Copyright � 2000 Agence France-Presse
(March 9, 2000 8:14 p.m. EST http://www.sportserver.com) - Juventus will not be adding the UEFA Cup after a woeful 4-0 thrashing Thursday at Spain's Celta Vigo.
After a slim 1-0 win for the Zebras in Turin, Vigo was aware the match was there for the taking, even if an away goal for Juventus would surely have burst the Spaniards' optimistic balloon.
Two sendings off and poor defending left the Italians high and dry as Vigo cantered to a 4-1 aggregate victory.
Without inspirational leader Zinedine Zidane, not fully fit and left on the bench until late on, Juve, with just one league defeat all season, was rudderless.
Its cool and its class simply deserted it against a side which has not shone in recent Spanish league action.
The humiliating loss was the second worst in Juve's proud history in Europe.
The club's worst defeat ever came in 1958, when the Italians lost 7-0 to Austrian club Vienna SK in only their second ever European game.
The Italian league leaders were caught cold inside the first 30 seconds as Zidane's fellow Frenchman Claude Makalele smashed home a low drive from the edge of the box.
If that constituted a bad start, it was nothing compared with what followed.
Juve quickly lost its cool as Conte getting a second yellow card for a crude tackle from behind on 26 minutes and it was no surprise when it went 2-0 down on the night five minutes later.
A corner on the right eluded two Juventus defenders and a clutch of Vigo men but Birindelli, facing his own keeper two meters out, bundled the ball into his own net.
Seconds before the interval, Juve, three time UEFA Cup winners, found itself two men as well as two goals down as Montero was ordered off for appearing to strike out at Valery Karpin.
Incredibly, Juventus fell for another punch - this time of the sucker variety - going further behind right at the start of the second half.
Juve's Dutch keeper, Edwin van der Sar, flapped at a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and allowed the ball to run on to South African Benny McCarthy to stab home the third through the legs of Birindelli, who was chasing back.
McCarthy accepted another gift from the Dutchman on 69 minutes by stabbing home after Van der Sar failed to hold a header from Gustavo Lopez.
Van der Sar's comical showing encapsulated just how far the 'Old Lady', as Juve is affectionately known, has fallen since its 1996 European Cup win.
"I'm disappointed. Eleven men against eleven we could have done it and maybe even ten against eleven," said crestfallen Juve coach Carlo Ancelotti.
