Lippi Concentrates On Coppa Progress
Tuesday 5th February 2002
Juventus boss Marcello Lippi insists his team will be fully focused on beating AC Milan in Wednesday's Coppa Italia semi-final, despite facing title-rivals Roma in the league four days later.
"This could be our first final since I came back to Turin. It's a vital match," insisted Lippi, whose side lead 2-1 from the first leg.
"Everyone is talking about the Roma match at the weekend, but we are only concentrating on our next task. Getting to the final would be an excellent reward for the way we have recovered after a poor start to the season.
"I hope the fans will see a solid team that wants to fight for everything," added the Juventus coach.
Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti is not expecting any favours. "They want to get to the final as much as we do," he said.
"We start off 2-1 down, but it is our duty to do our best to recover. I think that our 1-1 draw against Lazio in Rome at the weekend will have a positive affect on morale even if it didn't particularly help our league position."
Juventus go into the match without suspended duo Ciro Ferrara and Enzo Maresca, while Igor Tudor, Nicola Amoruso and Marcelo Salas all miss out through injury.
Portuguese star Manuel Rui Costa is set to make his Milan comeback against Perugia at the weekend, but will not feature on Wednesday.
Sunday's goalscoring hero Andriy Shevchenko has handed Ancelotti a major boost, though, by shaking off a bout of flu.
Juventus (probable): Carini, Birindelli, Iuliano, Montero, Zenoni, Zambrotta, Tacchinardi, Davids, Nedved, Zalayeta, Del Piero
AC Milan (probable): Rossi, Roque Junior, Laursen, Chamot, Kaladze, Contra, Albertini, Pirlo, Serginho, Jose Mari, Javi Moreno
Referee: Bertini
