Del Piero Singled Out for Scorn
Tuesday 29th August 2000
Alessandro Del Piero and some of his Juventus team-mates came under fierce
criticism from a group of Fiorentina fans as the Italian national team
trained in Coverciano on Tuesday.
About 10 Viola supporters made their way behind the gates in the training
ground and singled out the Juve players, especially Del Piero, for a number
of insults.
Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni, preparing his squad for next week's World
Cup qualifying game against Hungary, approached the group of fans and asked
them to respect the players' wishes to train. They left shortly afterwards.
Juventus and Fiorentina have been fierce enemies for the past 20 years after
a controversial last-minute penalty decision gave Juventus the Serie A title
at the beginning of the 1980s at the expense of the Viola.
The controversial transfer of Roberto Baggio from Florence to Turin in 1990
spiced things up between the clubs' supporters even further.
