Juventus in Battle With French Federation Over Stars
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
TURIN, Italy (Aug 12, 1998 - 12:30 EDT) - Italian champions Juventus are having a row with the French soccer federation over releasing World Cup stars Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps for a friendly against Austria.
France's new coach Roger Lemerre included the two prized midfielders on Tuesday in his squad for the game in Vienna next Wednesday.
But the call-up has caused anger here among club officials, who only got their men back from prolonged holidays at the weekend. Juventus' next game is on Thursday (Aug 13) at Cesena against Raja Casablanca.
"I was very shocked about it," said coach Marcello Lippi on Wednesday, " because there has to be a minimum amount of logic to things.
"The two French players have been training for three days, they haven't played a friendly and they won't even play at Cesena, so just imagine if they can play with the national side.
"They have had extended holidays and will not be ready to play for at least two weeks.
"If they get injured now, we'll lose them for at least two months."
However, Lippi remained hopeful that an amicable solution could be found.
"Fortunately, we have a great dialogue with the French football federation, and I explained all this to their official who came to Turin to talk to me about it and he understood."
Lippi meanwhile re-stated his belief that recent doping claims by AS Roma coach Zdenek Zeman, who pointed the finger at Gianluca Vialli and Alessandro Del Piero, are just a campaign to de-stabilise his side.
"What has made me most bitter over the last few days is the feeling that some of the great work done in recent years is being taken away," he said.
As for the effect on his team this season, Lippi said: "If beforehand we knew that we would have to give 100 percent, now we'll have to give 120 percent, and get used to having a very strong wind against us.
"We will certainly have the right motivation," he promised. "But there are a few sources of it that we could happily have done without."
