I Will Come Back Stronger, Vows Del Piero
Thursday 7th December 2000
Troubled Alessandro del Piero put a positive spin on his problems at
Juventus on Thursday and claimed that winning the Scudetto was still a
realistic target - despite the Turin club's wretched start to the season.
Del Piero was excluded from the starting line-up for the first time in five
years following Juve's Champions' League failure in early November and his
stock has continued to slump.
Before that, ordinary showings for his country at Euro 2000, and criticism
for two glaring misses in the final against France, seemed to spark his
downturn in fortunes.
But Del Piero remains optimistic for the future. "At the moment I feel like
the rest of the team," he said. "I feel better now. We can meet our main
target (the Serie A title) and we are confident of it.
"We went through a terrible time when we were knocked out of the Champions'
League, because that was our preferred goal. We made some mistakes, but as
everyone can now see, in Europe there are many teams capable of winning.
"Once the battle was between Spanish, Italian, English and German clubs, but
now there are many others."
On the domestic front, the former golden boy of Italian football has lost
his place to France star David Trezeguet - who scored the golden goal in the
same Euro 2000 final which Del Piero looks back on with dread.
But the Italian claims he is comfortable with life on the sidelines and
suggests he is a victim of modern football's fashion for squad rotation.
"I accept it when I have to start from the bench," Del Piero said. "There
are 25 players in the squad and this situation is a consequence of our
mistakes in the Champions' League. I'm sure that (Carlo) Ancelotti has
confidence in me.
"I only knew I wasn't going to play against Verona a few minutes before
kick-off, during the pre-match meeting. I knew I was going to play against
Inter during the same meeting, a week later.
"Now I am just waiting. I feel good, but I know that if I score more goals,
everything will be easier."
Del Piero admits that he is no longer the darling of the Delle Alpi.
Zinedine Zidane has stolen that crown. "I know," he said. "But that's been
the case since last summer. It is not a new situation. We have so many good
players. I have to score more. That's my job.
"Now we just have to focus on the title, because we are capable of winning
all our matches - but we can also lose ground, as the Inter match showed.
Roma are the favourites, but we can catch up with Capello's side. It is up
to us.
"Even second place would be a defeat for us this year. Zidane didn't just
say that because he needs to convince us, but because it's true."
Juventus have improved since the return from injury of defender Paulo
Montero, but the Uruguayan has come in for heavy criticism since striking
out at Inter midfielder Luigi di Biagio during the Italian Derby last
Sunday.
"Montero made a mistake," stated Del Piero. "He will pay for it - we all
will. But we can't crucify him. We see things like that going on in the area
in most games. Defenders try some things to convince forwards not to fight."
