Ancelotti Banks on New Juventus Deal
Tuesday 10th October 2000
Coach Carlo Ancelotti announced on Tuesday that he was confident of being offered a new contract by Juventus before his current deal expires next summer, despite an indifferent start to the season.
The former Parma coach has already had several meetings with the Juve directors and believes that finalising an agreement is a formality. "My contract expires next June and both the club and I want to renew it," said the 41-year-old.
"We have talked about it, but we are not in a hurry because I talk to the management every day. However, I am more worried about our next matches than by my contract," added Ancelotti, who has been at the club since February 1999.
"In the future I still see myself as Juventus' coach, but first we need results."
The international break came at just the right time for Ancelotti, with Juve struggling with an injury crisis that has contributed to their mediocre performances in the Champions' League.
"I lost players like Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro del Piero, who played for Italy, but in that time we could get back other players like Gianluca Pessotto, Antonio Conte, Pablo Montero, Zinedine Zidane and Fabian O'Neill, who were all injured."
The only disappointment for Ancelotti was Zidane's two-match suspension in the Champions' League following his sending-off against Deportivo La Coruna.
"Zinedine will not play in the returns against Deportivo and Hamburg," he revealed. "For me it was excessive and a one-match ban would have done.
"I am convinced that if the referee had seen the TV pictures of the incident after the match he would have written a different report." Juventus will make a written complaint about Zidane's treatment to Uefa.
