Juve Stronger Without Zizou, Insists O'Neill
Saturday 15th September 2001
Celtic coach Martin O'Neill believes Juventus have become a more dangerous proposition since the sale of Zinedine Zidane, but has nonetheless promised his side will attack at the Stadio Delle Alpi in this week's Champions' League clash.
Juventus have invested heavily in Marcelo Salas, Gianluigi Buffon, Lilian Thuram and Pavel Nedved since collecting a world-record �48 million from the sale of the France midfielder.
Under new coach Marcello Lippi, the Turian giants top the early Serie A table with two wins out of two, and O'Neill recognises that the Scottish champions are in for a tough night on Tuesday.
"Juventus have changed in the way they want to play the game now because Zidane is no longer there and everything would have gone through him," O'Neill explained. "Some judges are saying they are actually stronger for it.
"Maybe they aren't depending on one player making things happen for them. Sometimes players have left clubs, players that looked like they were irreplaceable, and the clubs have probably become even stronger.
"Manchester United with Cantona leaving - you would have thought it impossible to replace him overnight - and they went on to win the European Cup.
"I think they will be strong and fancy themselves very strongly for a long run in the competition because the money from Zidane hasn't been put aside and they have strengthened with it.
"The goalkeeper (Buffon) and other players have come in and they have spent heavily. I would have thought they would be looking at the semi-final and perhaps the final."
O'Neill, though, believes the best chance his team have got is to attack. "I won't be telling them how to handle the game, but we'll try and play in a similar way to the away tie against Ajax - we might as well go for it," said the Parkhead chief.
"Going for things leaves you wide open at the back which can be disastrous, but we'll be positive in the game.
"We'll lose goals in the competition - there might be one or two games where we might get absolutely mauled - but at the end of the six games I want us to have been positive, really tried to go for it and given ourselves a chance to qualify for the next stage."
