Lippi Keeps The Faith For Coppa Showdown
Tuesday 22nd January 2002
Juventus coach Marcello Lippi has vowed to stick with the second-string players who have helped his side reach Wednesday night's Coppa Italia semi-final against AC Milan, whose boss Carlo Ancelotti gave his backing to out-of-form Andriy Shevchenko.
Lippi was in no doubt about the magnitude of the game when he declared: "I don't want to reduce the importance of the other semi-final between Parma and Brescia, but I think that AC Milan-Juventus is the real final."
He then promised to keep faith in the players who had got the team to this stage of the competition. Alessandro Birindelli, Michele Paramatti, Marcelo Zalayeta and Fabian Carini are normally substitutes in the league, but Lippi said: "It's the right reward.
"They have always satisfied me every time I picked them. They deserve to play in an important stadium like the San Siro. They have reached the semi-final and they have to play in it."
Ancelotti, meanwhile, came out in support of Andriy Shevchenko, the Ukrainian who missed a penalty in Sunday's 1-1 draw with Fiorentina.
"Shevchenko is not a problem," he said. "He has always scored a lot of goals in the past, it's normal to have a bad run in a career. Andriy is calm, he is only disappointed for his mistake.
"I am sure that he will return to his best form as soon as possible. He will show in this semi-final that he is important for Milan."
Ancelotti had words of praise for his former team: "They are having a good spell. There is only one difference between us: they have better consistency. But Milan are angry, and we will give our best in these two Coppa Italia matches."
