Faltering Juventus Held to 0-0 Tie at Home
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
ROME (Nov 22, 1998 - 13:04 EST) -- Italian champion Juventus was tied 0-0 by Empoli on Sunday and slipped three points behind league leader Fiorentina, a 3-1 winner over Inter Milan.
The Turin side, which faces a difficult and politically loaded trip to Turkey's Galatasaray in the European Champions' League on Wednesday, has now failed to win in five matches.
Juventus, with Didier Deschamps back in the starting lineup after injury, started brightly with Zinedine Zidane threatening to give it an early lead.
But the absence of Alessandro Del Piero, out for five months with a knee injury, was keenly felt. And as the light faded over the Delle Alpi stadium, so did Juventus.
Marcelo Lippi's side now has to brace itself for a possible trip to a country bristling with anti-Italian feeling following a diplomatic row over extradition of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, arrested in Rome last week.
The club is hoping UEFA will rule on Monday to move the tie elsewhere.
"I hope UEFA decides not to send us to Istanbul," Juventus honorary president Gianni Agnelli said. "There's undoubtedly a risk. Of course, they're not going to shoot at us, but some danger there certainly is."
Elsewhere in serie A, it was a story of missed penalties.
Argentina's Ariel Ortega saw his 21st minute spot kick for Sampdoria saved by Vicenza 'keeper Pierluigi Brivio and Piacenza keeper Valerio Fiori saved a 23rd minute effort from Udinese's Brazilian forward Amoroso.
Salernitana striker Marco Di Vaio crashed a penalty against the bar in his side's 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Venezia.
Ortega's was the costliest of the three misses. Sampdoria was held to a dreary and mistake-ridden 0-0 draw and was jeered by its own fans at the end. Sampdoria has now squandered three of its last five penalties
Udinese brushed off Amoroso's miss to win 1-0 thanks to a 40th minute strike from Paolo Poggi.
Both sides finished with 10 men after Piacenza's Simone Inzaghi, younger brother of Italy striker Filippo, was dismissed for a second bookable offense. Udinese defender Alessandro Pierini saw red after handling the ball twice in the space of a minute.
