Lecce 1-1 Juventus - FT

[Salem6]

Sunday, December 21, 2003

Italian Serie A


Final score - Via del Mare Attendance: 30,325

Lecce 1 - 1 Juventus

Haouiliais Axel Cedric Konan (24)
David Trezeguet (86)





Teams
23 Vukasin Poleksic
81 Giuseppe Abruzzese
11 Cesare Bovo
20 Sebastiano Siviglia
21 Lorenzo Stovini
77 Marco Cassetti
25 Haouiliais Axel Cedric Konan
24 Cristian Ledesma
4 Luigi Piangerelli
14 Max Tonetto
19 Ernesto Javier Chevanton

Gianluigi Buffon 1
Alessandro Birindelli 15
Ciro Ferrara 2
Mark Iuliano 13
Nicola Legrottaglie 23
Stephen Appiah 18
Enzo Maresca 14
Gianluca Zambrotta 19
Alessandro Del Piero 10
Marco Di Vaio 20
Fabrizio Miccoli 9



Substitutes
26 Erminio Rullo
5 Alberto Savino
13 Cristian Silvestri
6 Alessandro Budel
10 Guillermo Giacomazzi
1 Marco Amelia
7 Valeri Boijnov

Antonio Chimenti 12
Gianluca Pessotto 7
Igor Tudor 5
Mauro German Camoranesi 16
Antonio Conte 8
David Trezeguet 17
Marcelo Zalayeta 25



Substitutions
G Giacomazzi for H Konan (69)

M Zalayeta for N Legrottaglie (37)
D Trezeguet for F Miccoli (60)
M Camoranesi for A Del Piero (77)



Yellow Cards
Ernesto Javier Chevanton (86)



Red Cards
Mark Iuliano (58)



Referee: Emilio Pellegrino

[Salem6]

PA

LECCE, December 21 (Serie A) - David Trezeguet broke Lecce hearts with a late equaliser to salvage a point for out-of-sorts Juventus at the Via del Mare on Sunday.

Relegation-haunted Lecce looked set to record one of the upsets of the season after taking a first-half lead through Axel Konan and then seeing Juve reduced to 10 men following Mark Iuliano's 58th-minute dismissal.

But the two-time defending Italian champions refused to roll over and they were rewarded for their endeavours when Trezeguet, a second-half substitute, slotted home four minutes from time to bring Juve level.

Juve were looking to an end a tremendous year on a high note having won the Scudetto, the Italian Super Cup and also reached the Champions League final in 2003.

It was never going to be as straightforward as all that for high-flying Juve, however, with Lecce battling to escape the relegation places.

And it was the lower-placed club that had the better of the early chances with impressive Ernesto Chevanton going close with a shot following a pass from Luigi Piangerelli.

That proved to be just a sighter for the home side, and seven minutes later they were celebrating the lead.

Chevanton was again involved and his cross from the right proved perfect for Konan to nod into the back of the Juventus net.

That seemed to shock the defending champions into action and they set about looking for an equaliser in earnest, creating three decent chances in eight minutes before the break.

The first saw Fabrizio Miccoli thwarted by Lecce goalkeeper Vukasin Poleksic, who then denied Marco Di Vaio from close range after the Juve striker had worked himself some space following a Ciro Ferrara pass.

Di Vaio and Miccoli then both had chances to snatch Juve an equaliser a minute before the half-time whistle.

Gianluca Zambrotta's powerful run-and-cross caused panic in the home box and although the Lecce defence managed to block Di Vaio's header, Miccoli really should have buried the subsequent loose ball instead of firing wide.

Juve continued to push for an equaliser after the break and Marcelo Zalayeta, a first-half replacement for Nicola Legrottaglie, saw his stinging right-footed shot well saved by the busy Poleksic.

However the Turin giants hopes of getting a three-point haul out of the game looked to have disappeared just 60 seconds after Zalayeta's effort when Iuliano was sent off.

He was shown a straight red after hauling down Chevanton as the Lecce man was bearing down on goal.

That was the catalyst for Juve coach Marcello Lippi to go for broke, sending on French hitman Trezeguet for Miccoli.

The game opened up in the last 20 minutes as Juve swept forward and both sides had a host of chances to find the back of the net.

Max Tonetto and Chevanton combined to waste one of the best openings for Lecce in the 69th minute.

A mistake by Alessandro Birindelli left Tonetto with only Gianluigi Buffon to beat, but instead of taking responsibility himself, he passed the ball to Chevanton who subsequently fired wide.

Poleksic then denied Juve youngster Enzo Maresca at the second attempt before Guillermo Giacomazzi missed a half-decent opening for Lecce eight minutes from time.

Giacomazzi had been set up by Chevanton and when the duo combined again three minutes later a goal looked a likely outcome. But Chevanton's shot lacked neither the power nor the placement to beat Buffon and the Italy goalkeeper made a comfortable save.

Lecce's inability to kill the game off came back to haunt them as a lack of concentration in the home defence allowed Trezeguet a sight of goal.

It was all the Frenchman needed.

He had time to control Stephan Appiah's pass on his chest before smashing home the equaliser just inside the right-hand post.

That knocked the stuffing out of Lecce and they were somewhat fortunate to escape with a point in the end.

In the 89th minute Mauro Camoranesi, a late replacement for Alessandro Del Piero, smashed a shot against the Lecce post from 10 yards out before Trezeguet, three minutes into injury-time, saw his clever header brilliantly stopped by Poleksic.