Juve Get Their Just Desserts
Tuesday 24th October 2000
Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti could not understand Zinedine Zidane and
Edgar Davids' actions on a night when nine-man Juve lost out to Hamburg.
"My players have to understand the importance of playing with 11. We played
with nine since the 33rd minute and the game ended when Davids was sent
off," Ancelotti said.
"How we could win? I didn't ask them for an explanation and they didin't
talk to me. We deserved to lose."
Captain Antonio Conte was more supportive of his two team-mates: "Our
opponents try to provoke Zidane and Davids every time. Maybe because they
know Zinedine and Edgar will react.
"We have to look at ourselves and at our many mistakes. In the past we have
qualified in our last match, just like true men.
There was a lot of satisfaction in the Hamburg camp following another
dramatic clash with the Italian giants. The two sides had entertained with a
4-4 draw in the first leg but Tuesday's match at the Delle Alpi provided
more talking points.
Hamburg coach Frank Pagelsdorf stressed the difficult circumstance for both
teams. "It was very difficult for us tonight as we had to win this match.
Then Nico Kovac got injured and later on I had to substitute Jochen Kietz as
he was concussed after Zidane's head-butt."
"I had to improvise quite a lot, after Juve's sending-offs both teams has to
change their tactics. I must stress that all dismissals were justified."
Asked why his team had failed to knock out a struggling Juventus side,
reduced to only nine men, Pagelsdorf stressed Hamburg's status as rookies on
the European stage. "We were a bit too naive, sure, we should have scored
more goals."
Hamburg striker Roy Prager, who opened the scoring, was shocked with the
actions of Zidane and Davids.
"I don't have a clue what had happened to them and to be honest, I don't
care. Juve beat themselves, we had a period when we were struggling but at
the end our victory was well deserved."
Prager stressed the importance of Hamburg's final match at home against
already-qualified Deportivo La Coruna: "Now we have a real final against
them, that's what we had been looking for," the striker added. "We will
surely have a packed ground and we will fight until the end."
Hamburg are third in their group with five points, and while reaching the
Uefa Cup looks likely, there is still a slim chance that they could sneak
through to the second group phase.
