Post by Taxigirl on Feb 16, 2004 10:59:35 GMT
Maresca 50 (J)
Stadio Delle Alpi
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Juventus cut the gap from the leaders to just six points after Enzo Maresca sealed a tight win over Reggina.
Juve needed a show of force after their 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Roma, while there was a great deal of controversy surrounding their Coppa Italia semi-final win against Inter midweek.
David Trezeguet and Mauro German Camoranesi are out injured, while Paolo Montero is suspended. Marco Di Vaio stepped in to partner Alessandro Del Piero, who missed the Roma game with a minor thigh problem.
Reggina also had problems, as David Di Michele is sidelined with Shunsuke Nakamura away on international duty in Japan. Former Napoli man Roberto Stellone partnered Emiliano Bonazzoli for the visiting team. It was a special moment for ex-Torino Coach Giancarlo Camolese, who had never previously lost to Marcello Lippi's side.
The first scoring opportunity was created by Reggina after two minutes when Gianluigi Buffon scrambled a save on Francesco Cozza's fierce free kick.
Juve hit back with Nicola Legrottaglie nodding a corner kick over the bar from eight yards.
The Bianconeri thought they had opened the scoring when Enzo Maresca skipped past two defenders and only had the goalkeeper to beat, but the former Piacenza man incredibly fired wide of the near post.
Del Piero's intelligent flick found Di Vaio in the area, but the attentive Reggina defence managed to close him down before he could squeeze in a shot.
The captain went for goal himself on 35 minutes with a fierce drive that skimmed the near post.
But Reggina had the best chance of the first half when Roberto Stellone took the ball off Lilian Thuram and passed across for the unmarked Cozza, but Buffon stood his ground and performed a stunning reaction block to prevent the Amaranto captain scoring.
Moments later there was another controversial incident, as Del Piero's diving header on a Nedved shot hit the back of the net. The referee disallowed it and booked the Italian international for a handling offence, but replays left an element of doubt as to how much contact - if any - his hand made with the ball.
Juve finally broke the deadlock on 50 minutes, but it was a very scrappy goal indeed. Emanuele Belardi bravely came out to smother Di Vaio's shot, but the ball rolled out to Maresca and his effort went in off the upright.
That boosted their confidence and Belardi did well to fingertip a curling Del Piero free kick over the bar, then blocked Legrottaglie's effort from the resulting corner.
However, those defensive problems reared their ugly heads once again when Thuram and Legrottaglie both left the ball and Buffon threw himself at Cozza's feet to prevent an equaliser.
Substitute Fabrizio Miccoli's angled drive tested Belardi at the near post, but Buffon was shaken by a Cozza volley from the edge of the box.
Del Piero had another attempt with his head on a splendid floated Pavel Nedved pass, but this time it just clipped the crossbar.
The captain was desperate for a goal and in stoppage time his splendid strike was fingertipped on to the crossbar by Belardi.
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Juventus: Buffon; Pessotto (Ferrara 78), Thuram, Legrottaglie, Zambrotta; Conte, Tacchinardi, Maresca (Appiah 56), Nedved; Del Piero, Di Vaio (Miccoli 61)
Reggina: Belardi; Franceschini, Torrisi, Sottil; Comotto, Mesto, Tedesco, Falsini; Cozza; Stellone (Dall'Acqua 79), Bonazzoli
Ref: Bertini