Juventus Threatens to Boycott Match
Copyright � 1998 Nando Media
Copyright � 1998 Agence France-Presse
TURIN (Nov 22, 1998 - 15:27 EST) - Juventus players threatened Sunday to boycott next Wednesday's European Champions League tie unless UEFA moves out of Istanbul, where there is a growing diplomatic crisis.
Rome and Ankara are disputing because Italy is considering giving political asylum to Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. Turkey has demanded his extradition on charges of terrorism and treason.
The crisis has whipped up anti-Italian sentiment in Turkey and Juventus players and officials fear for their safety in Istanbul, where the team faces Galatasaray in a Group B tie.
UEFA will make a decision on Monday but Angelo Di Livio, Juventus' captain on Sunday, said: "If UEFA give the match the go-ahead, we might refuse to play. It could happen that we the players decide not to go to Istanbul. We are very much against risking our lives.
"We will talk about it all tomorrow, all of us together, after UEFA announce their decision. But today (Sunday), we are still hoping that UEFA will move the match to a neutral ground."
The international midfielder said the team would need the guarantee in Istanbul of 100-percent security.
"And as of today, that doesn't seem to be there," Di Livio said. "I don't feel good about it: the idea of going to Istanbul now gives me the shivers, it would be better if it was played in another city.
"This is a decisive match for us and it would be unfair for us to have to play it fearing for our personal safety."
The move being considered by the Italian team was reinforced by international defender Gianluca Pessotto, who said: "Our refusal to play is not to be ruled out.
"It's clear that in Istanbul on Wednesday there won't be the conditions for playing a football match. What's more, our political leaders have been the first to say that we shouldn't go to Turkey.
"I don't know why we should be the ones to take the risks."
French World Cup winners Didier Deschamps and Zinedine Zidane agreed with their teammates.
"I don't want to go to Istanbul," Deschamps said. "It's my personal opinion, but I know that it's shared by my teammates.
"However, I'm still hoping that UEFA will move the match to a neutral ground: it would be the most logical solution."
Zidane admitted: "Yes, I'm afraid. And who wouldn't be after having watched television and seen (Italian) flags being burned and the people and the politicians making threats?"
"If we really had to go there, I'm sure that we would be protected and that the police and the local authorities will have thought of everything to make sure that nothing happened."
The threat came a few hours after Juventus chief Gianni Agnelli urged UEFA to spare his team the trip to Istanbul.
"I hope that on Monday UEFA do not send us to Istanbul," said Agnelli, whose control of the Fiat empire also makes him Italy's top businessman.
"There is clearly a risk," he said. "It's not as if they are going to open fire on us, but there is a certain amount of danger.
"But, if they say we have to go there, then we will do ... If I was UEFA, I would opt for the solution of neutral ground."
Juventus coach Marcello Lippi stopped short of demanding a neutral ground, but said: "Like everyone, we've watched the television news and read the papers and it's not surprising if people are a bit worried.
"But if UEFA, who are intelligent people, tell us to go and play there we will -- because it will mean there won't be any problems."
Ocalan is currently under house arrest in Rome.
Ankara blames him for 30,000 lives believed to have been lost since 1984 when the PKK launched an armed campaign for a homeland for around 23 million Kurds who live in a region straddling Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
