Inzaghi Boast Increases Pressure On Unsettled Del Piero
Sunday 28th January 2001
Filippo Inzaghi has paved the way for Alessandro Del Piero's departure from Juventus by stating that he is now the best striker at the Stadio Delle Alpi and will be for some time. "I must now be the No 1 choice at Juventus. I am the man scoring goals and I am the best person to play," he said.
Inzaghi feels he has finally stepped out of the shadow of Del Piero after playing second fiddle to his Italy colleague at the start of the season.
Speaking on Italia Uno's Controcampo sports programme on Sunday evening, Inzaghi admitted that he felt it was unfair that he had to fight for his place in the side at the start of the season, while others were picked ahead of him.
He did not mention Del Piero by name, but it was clearly a barbed comment aimed at the man who was selected to play - even though he was out of form.
Now the roles are reversed, with Del Piero having to kick his heels on the bench, while France striker David Trezeguet starts and Inzaghi hogs the limelight.
Inzaghi is certainly in a rich vein of form, with 12 goals this season, including seven in his last six matches. He was instrumental in Juve's 4-0 win over Vicenza on Sunday, scoring a hat-trick and setting up the other
goal for Edgar Davids.
Since injuring his knee in November 1998, Del Piero has struggled to recapture the form that led Juve to the title that year and he said last week that he is considering a move to a foreign club at the end of the
season.
He has also been linked with a move to AC Milan and has admitted that he fears being replaced by Bari youngster Antonio Cassano who is rumoured to be joining Juve in the summer.
Del Piero's contract does not expire until 2005, but it is unlikely that he will stay at the Turin club if he fails to win back a regular place in the side.
Ironically, Del Piero was called into action early on Sunday to replace Trezeguet, who went off injured.
But during the TV interview, Inzaghi insisted: "I must now be the No 1 choice at Juventus. I am the man scoring goals and I am the best person to play.
"If there is a better player in a better position to score than me then I will pass to him. But I am the top striker at Juventus."
As for the title, Inzaghi sees it as a three-horse race between the teams currently occupying the top positions. And, not surprisingly, he feels Juventus are destined to come through and claim the Scudetto they were denied in such dramatic fashion last season.
"We deserved to win it last year because we were the better team, but we lost it," he said. "Again this year we are at least the equal of Roma and I think we can come through to win it this time.
"Only Roma and Lazio are good enough to stop us."
Inzaghi followed the lead of his French team-mate Zinedine Zidane last week by saying that he wanted to stay with Juventus for the rest of his career.
"I have a contract until 2003 but I should like to end my career in Turin. In this city I have enjoyed many victories and much success. It's impossible to find anywhere better than Juventus," he said.
