Pagliuca Hopes To Lay Juventus Ghost
Thursday 18th October 2001
Bologna goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca is hoping for victory over Juventus at the weekend to help erase the memory of an infamous defeat while he was at Internazionale. "I hope it is my turn to steal a win," said the veteran.
Pagliuca was involved in a title-decider between Inter and Juve four years ago when the referee failed to award a blatant penalty for a foul on Ronaldo.
"I hope we win this time, for Bologna and Inter, too. This is the year for Inter, I feel," he said. "But we have to play at our best and hope they have a bad night."
Bologna have been the surprise package at the start of the Serie A season, picking up 12 points to lie third, despite the absence of Beppe Signori through injury.
Pagliuca is the Bologna captain and will wear a USA flag on his arm instead of his normal armband.
Another player with a vested interest in the match is Matteo Brighi, owned by Juventus, but loaned for a year to Bologna.
Brighi believes his side must learn from the mistakes made by Norwegian side Rosenborg in their 1-0 loss to Juventus in the Champions' League on Wednesday.
"We must not play like Rosenborg, who were not aggressive and let Juventus play," he said.
"If I could take a player from Juventus, it would be Del Piero. He
is the most important. Obviously the fact they lost Zidane is important, but I think this Juve team is stronger than the last one."
