O'Neill Back For Udinese Clash
Tuesday 31st October 2000
Fabian O'Neill hasn't played for Juventus since suffering a thigh injury
during a match in September but the midfielder is expected to make his
return against high-flying Udinese on Wednesday.
O'Neill is an interesting character. The man with an Irish surname plays for
Uruguay, speaks Spanish and holds a Greek passport. He has a determined
attitude that sometimes clouds his better judgement.
The former Cagliari man put his recovery back by a month by not reporting
the injury to the club doctor and trying to soldier on in pain. But his
recovery is a welcome boost to manager Carlo Ancelotti, whose side suffered
a further set-back to their slow start to the season with a 3-1 defeat to
Hamburg in the Champions' League last week.
O'Neill will line up alongside Edgar Davids, Gianluca Pessotto and Jonatan
Bachini in midfield. And if he proves himself to be match fit, he will be
very much in Ancelotti's mind to feature in the vital Champions' League
survival clash away to Panathinaikos next week, as Zinedine Zidane and
Davids will be missing for that game through suspension.
Meanwhile, Uruguayan defender Montero is expected to start on the bench as
he works his back from injury and midfielder Zambrotta, who was injured in
the Olympics, will play in the second half.
Udinese go to Torino without fear, despite last season's heavy defeat to the
Bianconeri. Manager Luigi De Canio is more than happy with the way his side
has started the season and, as they sit in an impressive second place in the
league, he has every confidence that his side can continue their good run.
"I think that Udinese will play a good match," he said. "I am certain that
we won't make the same mistakes as last season, when we lost 4-1."
"We are more conscious of our strengths this year," he continued. "The
problem is that Juventus will be angry about what happened in the Champions'
League against Hamburg and will want to play a wonderful match to apologise
to their fans."
"But we are going through a great spell just now, as we showed with the
victory over Inter, and we will try to surprise Ancelotti' players too."
Udinese are all too aware of Juve's main threat and Italy international
Stefano Fiore revealed that the Friuli side will be taking measures to
thwart the player they perceive to be the danger man.
"Zinedine Zidane will be marked by Giuliano Giannichedda," he said. "Zidane
is the heart of Juventus but Giannichedda has all qualities to deal with the
French champion."
"We are conscious of our strengths," said captain Valerio Bertotto.
"If we come back with one or three points we will begin to make important
progress."
Coach Luigi De Canio agrees. "If we play with intelligence we can get an
important result, otherwise we will suffer," he said.
Juventus: Van der Saar, Ferrara, Zanchi, Iuliano, Pessotto, O'Neill, Davids,
Bachini, Zidane, Inzaghi, Del Piero
Udinese: (probable) Turci, Gargo, Sottil, Bertotto, Bisgaard, Giannichedda,
Jorgensen, Fiore, Diaz, Muzzi, Sosa
