Juventus Prepare Hot Reception
The Sunday Times
I THINK it will be a great, big, beautiful game," said Roberto
Bettega, the Juventus vice-president and former star. "Very intense.
And finally we'll have a full stadium - once a year!" Will they ever.
Juventus estimate that, had they been able to satisfy demand for
Wednesday's European Cup semi-final second-leg tie against Manchester
United, there would be an attendance of 200,000.
Bettega, a hero of the 1982 World Cup, is virtually Juve's chief
executive.
Opposite the desk in his large office in Turin stands a
cabinet full of trophies. Just a reproduction of the European Cup,
however. "You have to win it three times in a row or five times in
all to have it outright," he said, recalling that he played for Juve
in two losing European Cup finals.
Not for nothing is the club known as La Signora d'Italia, Italy's
pride. Those ticket requests came from all over the peninsula and
some of the most bitter complaints were from the deep south. Turin is
another story. "Juventus," said a big taxi driver, disparagingly.
"I'll be cheering for Manchester United." He was a Torino fan, as are
thousands of other Torinisi. It is traditional in Turin. Juventus
have long since been seen as the Fiat club, the Agnelli club, run by
the powerful family that owns the motor factories and has long
employed the bulk of Turin's workforce.
There will be 67,000 in an unpopular stadium, which is to be
demolished and replaced by a smaller ground nearby. Six thousand
tickets have gone to Manchester United fans and 2,000 seats have been
sacrificed to keep the fans apart.
"To call this a special week," said Carlo Ancelotti, the recently
appointed Juventus manager, "is not to say very much." Ancelotti, who
took over before he was due to do so next season when Marcello Lippi
walked out, was referring not only to the United game but to
yesterday's match in Rome against Serie A leaders Lazio. He insisted
Juve would take it very seriously, although they have little chance
of qualifying for next season's Champions League unless they actually
win the cup in Barcelona.
Journalists in Turin believe that having nothing to distract Juve
might be an advantage on Wednesday. One said: "Juve are concentrated
on this tournament, because it is their one possible objective."
How will they play? With just one striker, Filippo Inzaghi, up front
again, as they unexpectedly did in Manchester? This is what Italian
journalists expect. They hope that, if a second striker is brought
on, it will not be Juan Esnaider who, surprisingly, was employed as a
substitute at Old Trafford. Since his arrival from Espa�ol of
Barcelona, Esnaider, an Argentinian, has largely been unimpressive,
although his recent form has improved. He's useful when Juve play
away from home, said the reporters, "because he puts himself about a
lot. But he never has a shot at goal." Ancelotti keeps his cards
close to his chest.
"At Manchester, the system worked well," he said. "But every game has
its own story. It's not pre-ordained that we'll use the same tactics
in the return match. I wasn't surprised we found so much space at Old
Trafford. Our object was to play well, and we succeeded." For his
part, Bettega said: "Perhaps Manchester didn't think Juve would play
the way they did. They thought we would play on the counter-attack.
We weren't aggressive, but we tried to dictate the game, play well
up, pushing the full-backs forward. In the first half, we tried to
exploit this superiority. It's clear, though, that in the last 20
minutes we could have given away a goal at any time, even if we could
also have scored one at any time on the counter-attack."
Zinedine Zidane, the motor of Juventus's midfield, was substituted
last Sunday against Bologna, feeling a twinge in his heavily bandaged
right knee. But Ancelotti said he would be all right on the night.
The other doubt concerns Paolo Montero, the tough Uruguayan centre-
back, who was hurt at Old Trafford and whose presence will be
essential. They have scant faith in big Ciro Ferrara, his usual
replacement, who has not been the same player since he was badly
injured last season. But Bettega insists that Montero's injury was no
more than a twinge and he should be on duty. Some of the fans are
verbosely confident. "Juve will win; a 102% certainty," said one.
"The final will be between Juve and Dynamo Kiev." An older fan is
more cautious: "Juve, yes, but it's going to be hard." The
journalists seem optimistic, too: "Manchester United never do well
away from home."
Ancelotti and Juventus have other worries, however. Will Alessandro
Del Piero stay? Out injured for most of the season, he wants a new
contract, but he is also wanted by Atletico Madrid, who have offered
him more than �2.3m a year. There were, said Ancelotti,
"subterranean" forces at work in the transfer market. It wasn't like
the old days when contact between clubs and players was more direct.
Now, you had to go through agents, and misunderstandings could
result. But why did Lippi walk out, even if it was already known he
was bound for Inter next season on a �3.5m-a-year contract?
One journalist said Lippi had lost touch with the players, he
couldn't motivate them anymore. The club realised it and did nothing
to stop him going. For four years, Lippi had won everything in sight.
Had he gone on like that, as Bettega smilingly said, there would have
been nothing for anybody else: "It was a bolt from the blue when,
after a match against Parma, he said he was going." Results had been
abysmal. Under Ancelotti, they have improved, though recent league
results have been somewhat dismal; only an appalling goalkeeping
error in Piraeus, Greece, giving Antonio Conte an equalising goal,
had enabled Juve to squeeze into the semi-final.
Ancelotti, said Bettega, had not made any radical changes in tactics
or training: "Perhaps there was a psychological boost which
influenced the players positively."
Angelo Di Livio comes into the press room, still wearing his kit.
Suntanned, genial, with very bright, blue eyes. Last summer Juventus
tried to sell him, together with that other hero of recent games, the
goalscoring midfielder, Conte. Lippi did not seem to rate them.
"Perhaps he thought we were played out, old," said Di Livio. He is
delighted for Conte and hopes that he will see out the rest of his
career at Juve. "Recognition? It doesn't exist. They don't give you
any when it comes to contracts," he said.
Di Livio, who was snubbed by Roma and nearly went to Lazio last
summer, now says that he would like to finish his career with
Juventus. He said of Wednesday's game: "We have a slight advantage
through having scored a goal, but it will be a hard game because we
know Manchester very well as a team. We managed only to get that one
goal. With a little more concentration, we could have scored more."
Right wing, left wing, wing-back, he has done everything the club
could ask of him this season, but he says he would always prefer to
be un esterano, a winger; right or left doesn't matter to him.
"They've told me I am an important player for the future," he said,
although he seems resigned to whatever ultimately happens. Did
Juventus tire towards the end at Old Trafford? "I think anybody who
plays at Manchester has to give them half an hour," he said, "either
at the beginning or at the end!"
For Bettega, Wednesday's game will be tactically different from the
one at Old Trafford "because the managers will surely make certain
changes. The first game lasts for 90 minutes, but there are another
90 minutes to come." He feels that more risks will be taken than in
Manchester: "A team that finds itself behind has to do something to
change the situation."
Ancelotti added: "It's difficult. We'll have to fight, then we can do
it."
