Post by Taxigirl on Jan 19, 2004 10:19:01 GMT
Marcello Lippi looks to recent history in order to affirm Juve's Scudetto credentials despite a three-point gap from leaders Roma.
“In the last two years,” explained the tactician, “we have never been Winter Champions but went on to win the title in both seasons. We certainly hope that trend will continue.”
In fact, in both the last two campaigns Juventus were in fourth place at the halfway stage and currently lie in third behind Roma and Milan.
They will be favourites to pick up the points this afternoon when welcoming Siena to the Stadio Delle Alpi.
“Every week Coaches make the same comments on the difficulties of facing small sides in Serie A,” noted Lippi. “In the case of Siena, those clichés are absolutely true.”
And Juve should know, as their two Coppa Italia meetings earlier this season were fraught with difficulty and extremely controversial incidents.
There is already a tense atmosphere at the Turin side following an interview with benchwarmer Marco Di Vaio.
“These things matter only to the press and not to the squad,” insisted the Coach. “I heard all of Di Vaio’s interview and found nothing scandalous in it, so the issues were created by newspaper interpretation.”
The ex-Parma hitman was on target in the Coppa Italia midweek and surprised many when he refused to celebrate, then admitted afterwards that he felt frustrated by the lack of first team football.
David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero are struggling for form, but are expected to start again this afternoon.
“Lilian Thuram and Nicola Legrottaglie have recovered, but they are not fully match fit yet and will play the Coppa Italia quarter-final against Perugia on Wednesday.”